The Nuptial Flight 
moment when they authorise the massacre 
of the rival queens. That point reached, 
their instinct halts; and there is, as it 
were, a gap in their foresight. — They 
appear to be wholly indifferent. They 
raise their heads; recognise, probably, the 
murderous tokens of impregnation; but, 
still mistrustful, manifest none of the glad- 
ness our expectation had pictured. Being 
positive in their ways, and slow at illusion, 
they probably need further proofs before 
permitting themselves to rejoice. Why 
endeavour to render too logical, or too 
human, the feelings of little creatures so 
different from ourselves? Neither among 
the bees nor among any other animals 
that have a ray of our intellect, do things 
happen with the precision our books re- 
cord. Too many circumstances remain 
unknown to us. Why try to depict the 
bees as more perfect than they are, by 
saying that which is not? Those who 
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