74 NATURAL HISTORY. [cH. IV. 



his people, having disturbed a colony of these ani- 

 mals, were so furiously attacked, that both man and 

 beast were put to instant flight. The list of the 

 killed and missing amounted to one horse and six 

 asses — a serious loss to a white man in the midst 

 of inhospitable deserts. 



Lesser tells us, that in 1525, during the confusion 

 occasioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants, as- 

 sembling in Hoherstein, attempted to pillage the 

 house of the minister of Elende, who having in vain 

 employed all his eloquence to dissuade them from 

 their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his bee- 

 hives, and throw them into the middle of the infu- 

 riated multitude. The effect answered his expecta- 

 tions : they were immediately put to flight, and 

 happy were those who escaped unstung. 



It sometimes happens that a young swarm choose 

 to enter a hive already occupied ; when a most des- 

 perate conflict ensues, which will last for hours, and 

 even for days, and the space around will be found 

 covered with the slain. These desperate conflicts 

 not only take place between strangers, but also be- 

 tween inhabitants of the same hive — offspring of the 

 same mother. The causes which bring division 

 into so united a society have not been hitherto as- 

 certained. 



On those fine spring days in which the sun is 

 beautiful and warm, duels may often be seen to 

 take place between two inhabitants of the same 

 hive. In some cases, the quarrel appears to have 

 begun within, and the combatants may be seen com- 

 ing out of the gates eager " for blows." Sometimes 

 a bee peaceably settled on the outside of the hive, or 

 walking about, is rudely jostled by another, and 

 then the attack commences, each endeavouring to 

 obtain the most advantageous position. They turn, 

 pirouette, throttle each other ; and such is their bit- 

 ter earnestness, that Reaumur has been enabled to 

 come near enough to observe them with a lens with- 



