The Life of the Bee 
forsake the plants in the woods, though 
these be still in full blossom, and will con- 
fine their visits to the flowers of cabbage 
and colza alone. In this fashion they 
regulate, day by day, their distribution 
over the plants, so as to collect the great- 
est value of saccharine liquid in the least 
possible time. 
“Tt may fairly be claimed, therefore, for 
the colony of bees that, in its harvesting 
labours no less than in its internal economy, 
it is able to establish a rational distribution 
of the number of workers without ever 
disturbing the principle of the division of 
labour.” 
[ 49 ] 
But what have we to do, some will ask, 
with the intelligence of the bees? What 
concern is it of ours whether this be a little 
less or a little more? Why weigh, with 
such infinite care, a minute fragment of 
176 
