The Nuptial Flight 
less gifts are flung with both hands into the 
abyss of the future. Out of a thousand 
of them, one only, once in his life, will 
have to seek, in the depths of the azure, 
the presence of the royal virgin. Out of 
a thousand one only will have, for one in- 
stant, to follow in space the female who 
desires not to escape. That suffices. The 
partial power flings open her treasury, 
wildly, even deliriously. To every one 
of these unlikely lovers, of whom nine 
hundred and ninety-nine will be put to 
death a few days after the fatal nuptials 
of the thousandth, she has given thirteen 
thousand eyes on each side of their head, 
while the worker has only six thousand. 
According to Cheshire’s calculations, she 
has provided each of their antenne with 
thirty-seven thousand eight hundred olfac- 
tory cavities, while the worker has only 
five thousand in both. There we have 
an instance of the almost universal dis- 
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