158 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



aerial navigator, but that she sustains and propels 

 herself through the air with very little effort. 

 Obviously her equipment for flight must be a 

 thoroughly efficient one, and yet at first glance 

 it is not quite clear how she manages so well. 

 The student of the flight-problem, taking his ideas 

 and conception of first principles from the flight 

 of birds, is accustomed to believe that there are 

 at least two vital indispensable elements in the 

 process — a pair of wings or combination of aero- 

 plane and propellers that will sustain as well as 

 drive, and some sort of steering-apparatus like the 

 bird's tail. Yet, as far as a first general inspection 

 carries us, the bee appears to have no rudder- 

 mechanism at all, but to depend on her four wings 

 for every purpose. The wings of the bird have 

 a variable action. They can be used together or 

 separately, and are as capable of eccentric adjust- 

 ment, both in themselves and in relation to one 

 another, as a pair of human arms. But the bee's 

 wings have none of this adaptability. They have 

 but the one motion, up and down ; and they work 

 symmetrically, each wing keeping time with its 

 fellow. Yet the bee steers herself perfectly well 

 in a hundred different evolutions, accomplishing 

 all that the bird attains with his more complicated 

 apparatus for flight. 



The whole problem is bound up with another 

 problem ; and the two, difficult of solution apart, 

 easily resolve one another when taken in con- 



