The Life of the Bee 
atrophied ovaries notwithstanding, they 
will still endeavour to lay; and, their 
organs expanding somewhat beneath the 
empire of this exasperated sentiment, they 
will succeed in depositing a few eggs in 
the cells; but from these eggs, as from 
those of the virgin mother, there will issue 
only males. 
79 
Here we behold the active intervention 
of a superior, though perhaps imprudent, 
will, which offers irresistible obstruction to 
the intelligent will of a life. In the insect 
world such interventions are comparatively 
frequent, and much can be gained from 
their study; for this world being more 
densely peopled and more complex than 
others, certain special desires of nature are 
often more palpably revealed to us there; 
and she may even at times be detected in 
the midst of experiments we might almost 
be warranted in regarding as incomplete. 
She has one great and general desire, for 
instance, tha. she displays on all sides— 
222 
