The Moral Vision
The Flight of the Bee
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THE FLIGHT OF THE BEE
The bees make their hives at one place, but often
have to travel many miles to other places to suck
the nectar from the flowers. Sometimes they have to
keep flying the whole day in order to do so, and
observation of the bees has shown that when they
leave home in the early morning, it is still dark, but
that when they set off home in the evening, the sun
has not yet set and it is still light. To leave in the
morning darkness and return in the evening light is
a very practical thing to do, because travelling in
the morning means moving from dark to light while
travelling in the evening means moving from light
to dark. The bee takes into account the time span
between its arrival and departure and makes its
journeys accordingly. It knows that it can travel to
distant parts without losing its way provided it
does so in the daylight, but it can start its journey in
darkness because it knows that daylight is not far
away. Similarly, it avoids the possibility of going
astray in the dark by being as close as possible to its
hive in the evening when darkness is about to fall,
so it sets off on its last journey home while it is still
light.
