The Life of the Bee 
correct; for indeed, the further we go 
and the more closely we study, the more 
plainly is it brought home to us that we 
merely are waifs shipwrecked on the 
ocean of nature; and ever and anon, 
from a sudden wave that shall be more 
transparent than others, there leaps forth 
a fact that in an instant confounds all we 
imagined we knew. But the reason of 
my preferring the second theory is that, 
for one thing, the experiments of a Bor- 
deaux bee-keeper, M. Drory, have shown 
that in cases where all the large cells have 
been removed from the hive, the mother 
will not hesitate, when the moment for 
laying male eggs has come, to deposit 
these in workers’ cells; and that, in- 
versely, she will lay workers’ eggs in cells 
provided for males, if she have no others 
at her disposal. And, further, we learn 
from the interesting observations of M. 
Fabre on the Osmiz, which are wild and 
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