The Life of the Bee 
different their murmur at each of these 
special events, that the experienced apia- 
rist can without difficulty tell what is 
troubling the crowd that moves dis- 
tractedly to and fro in the shadow. 
If you desire a more definite proof, you 
have but to watch a bee that shall just 
have discovered a few drops of honey on 
your window-sill or the corner of your 
table. She will immediately gorge herself 
with it; and so eagerly, that you will 
have time, without fear of disturbing her, 
to mark her tiny belt with a touch of paint. 
But this gluttony of hers is all on the 
surface; the honey will not pass into the 
stomach proper, into what we might call 
her personal stomach, but remains in the 
sac, the first stomach, — that of the com- 
munity, if one may so express it. This 
reservoir full, the bee will depart, but not 
with the free and thoughtless motion of the 
fly or butterfly ; she, on the contrary, will 
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