CHAPTER IX. 
HOW THE BEES CREATE THE PEOPLE AND 
THE COMMON MOTHER. 
In the life of the bees, all things are brought to bear 
on the welfare of the infant. Let ns see, then, this 
object of love. Let ns see what is lying at the bottom 
of the cell; her who has just been created, the little 
virgin of toil. 
She is born in a condition of singular purity; so 
much so that she is not even provided with the organ 
of the inferior necessities. On a delicate mixture of 
honey and flower dust, which is constantly renewed, 
you see nothing at first but a comma, then a C, a 
spiral. But she already lives, is organized, and active; 
so that on the eighth day, like a skilful spinner, she 
weaves her network of metamorphosis. 
Her nurses, that she may enjoy a complete repose 
at the sacred moment, take the precaution to close 
up her cell; erecting over it a little dome, velvety, and of a tawny 
colour. For ten days she is a nymph, enveloped in a veil of exceeding 
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