The Life of the Bee 
this preliminary work be not executed 
in common, by relays of females, reliev- 
ing each other in turn.” 
However this may be, the fraternal idea 
has pierced the wall that divided two 
worlds. It is no longer wild and unrec- 
ognisable, wrested from instinct by cold 
and hunger, or by the fear of death ; it is 
prompted by active life. But it halts 
once more; and in this instance arrives 
no further. No matter, it does not lose 
courage; it will seek other channels. It 
enters the humble-bee, and, maturing 
there, becomes embodied in a different 
atmosphere, and works its first decisive 
miracles. 
[ 107 ] 
The humble-bees, the great hairy, noisy 
creatures that all of us know so well, so 
harmless for all their apparent fierceness, 
lead a solitary life at first. At the begin- 
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