BEE CHARACTER. 



263 



Of Bees, under different aspects, there is yet an infinity to 

 be told. We may look again into the hive, but those who 

 wish to dive deeply into the ways and wonders, the proceedings 

 and policies of its busy inmates, must consult the works of 

 Bee historians. Delightful pages some of them have written, 

 reading much like human history, only more agreeably, because 

 undefiled by moral blots. They tell us, it is true, that Bees 

 go to war like human communities ; that strong Bees rob the 

 weak, like human villains ; that angry Bees fight single 

 combats, like human duellists ; that Bees, well-fed and vigorous, 

 will kill the old and helpless of their labourers. These 

 are points of character, rough and sharp enough it must be 

 owned ; but they need not prick us in the reading, when we 

 remember that Bees are but the passive elements of an unerring 

 instinct. 



'i-lif mutl jprirffia'or of ffie JKesmtvir art' 



