First published: 1947.
Library copy published: 1947.

“To watch a community of little winged people is like looking at a human city through the wrong end of a telescope that has been endowed with magical clearness, so that every activity, and even every gesture, becomes vivid and meaningful. Yet there are such vital differences from any human race that ever existed, that the golden town weaves a magic of its own.” p. 26

“Bees have no pity for the sick or injured; their duty is to go at once to the city graveyard and die there, and if they do not do their duty they are mortally injured so that they shall recognise that there is no hope of avoiding it. Always and in everything the community’s health and fitness must come first; there is neither food nor shelter for anything less than perfect.” p. 117

“So the mechanically perfect community evolved, selfless, loveless, and undying.” p. 168