The Life of the Bee 
tacle that they present. We may regard 
it as probable, therefore, that most careful 
attention is given to the reports of the 
various scouts. One of them it may be, 
dwells on the advantage of some hollow 
tree it has seen; another is in favour of a 
crevice in a ruinous wall, of a cavity in a 
grotto, or an abandoned burrow. The 
assembly often will pause and deliberate 
until the following morning. Then at 
last the choice is made, and approved by 
all, Atagiven moment the entire mass 
stirs, disunites, sets in motion, and then, 
in one sustained and impetuous flight, 
that this time knows no obstacle, it will 
steer its straight course, over hedges and 
cornfields, over haystack and lake, over 
river and village, to its determined and 
always distant goal. It is rarely indeed 
that this second stage can be followed by 
man. ‘The swarm returns to nature;.and 
we lose the track of its destiny. 
128 
