72 THE FUNCTIONS OF BEES. 
to approach the provision-cells. Thus weakened by 
hunger and captivity, and disqualified for resistance 
by the want of a sting, they fall an easy prey to 
their merciless assailants ; and a scene of carnage 
takes place which it is difficult to describe. The 
unhappy wretches are seen driven to the bottom of 
the hive, pursued with such fury, that, in spite of 
their strength, which is greatly superior to that of 
their persecutors, and which enables them to drag 
two or three of their assailants along the hoard, and 
even to fly off with them, they are unable to avoid 
the mortal thrust of their formidable stings, and ex- 
pire instantaneously from the effects of the poison. 
But death overtakes them in various forms ; for 
their enemies sometimes seize them by the wings, 
and with their strong mandibles gnaw them at the 
roots, and disable them from flying. They may then 
be seen in numbers crawling on the ground, where 
they perish from the cold, or are trampled under 
foot, and devoured by birds or frogs. Such as escape 
for a while, may be seen flying from destruction, 
lighting on the shrubs and flowers to enjoy a mo- 
ment’s respite from their terrors ; or buzzing about 
our windows, or wandering about from hive to hive, 
into one of which they no sooner enter, than certain 
death awaits them. Nay, so bitter is the fury of 
their tormentors, that, not satisfied with destroying 
these unhappy beings themselves, they tear from 
the cells such of the doomed race as are yet in the 
state of larvae, and sucking from their bodies, with 
instinctive economy, the fluids they contain, cast the 
