The Parasite Is No Idler

Well, since I have been studying the Bee who endows her family with the property of others, I have not yet seen anything in her that points to slothfulness. On the contrary, the parasite leads a laborious life, harder than that of the worker. Watch her on a slope blistered by the sun. How busy she is, how anxious! How briskly she covers every inch of the radiant expanse, how indefatigable she is in her endless quests; in her visits, which are generally fruitless! Before coming upon a nest that suits her, she has dived a hundred times into cavities of no value, into galleries not yet victualled. And then, however kindly her host, the parasite is not always well received in the hostelry. No, it is not all roses in her trade. The expenditure of time and labour which she finds necessary in order to house an egg may easily equal or even exceed that of the worker in building her cell and filling it with honey.

Fabre defends the cuckoo-bee against the charge of laziness. Whatever else it is, it works for a living.

Source: J.-Henri Fabre, The Mason-Bees, trans. Alexander Teixeira de Mattos (New York: Dodd, Mead, 1914), ch. IX "The Theory of Parasitism." Text: scan or ebook. Public domain in the US. Pairs with: Swords: Seven of Swords, or Major Arcana: The Chariot A note from 2026: Fabre was arguing that parasitism did not evolve. The evidence now says it did: cuckoo bees evolved from nest-building ancestors many times, and their closeness to their hosts, which Fabre noticed himself, is part of the proof. His point that parasites work hard stands.

Public domain in the United States.