The Massacre of the Males 
visited daily one or two thousand times. 
He throws a last glance over the colonies, 
which are slowly becoming torpid. From 
the richest he takes their superfluous wealth 
to distribute it among those whom mis- 
fortune, unmerited always in this laborious 
world, may have rendered necessitous. He 
covers the dwellings, half-closes the doors, 
removes the useless frames, and leaves the 
bees to their long winter sleep. They gather 
in the centre of the hive, contract themselves, 
and cling to the combs that contain the 
faithful urns, whence there shall issue, during 
days of frost, the transmuted substance of 
summer. The queenis in the midst of them, 
surrounded by her guard. The first row of 
the workers attach themselves to the sealed 
cells; a second row cover the first, a third 
the second, and so in succession to the last 
row of all, which form the envelope. When 
the bees of this envelope feel the cold steal- 
ing over them they re-enter the mass, and 
others take their place. The suspended 
cluster is like a sombre sphere that the walls 
of the comb divide; it rises imperceptibly 
291 
