390 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



in order to steal or beg their honey, which places in a strong light the 

 good temper of the latter. This happened in a time of scarcity. The 

 hive-bees, after pillaging, had taken almost entire possession of the nest. 

 Some humble-bees, which remained in spite of this disaster, went out to 

 collect provisions ; and bringing home the surplus after they had supplied 

 their own immediate wants, the hive-bees followed them, and did not quit 

 them until they had obtained the fruit of their labors. They licked them, 

 presented to them their proboscis, surrounded them, and thus at last per- 

 suaded them to part with the contents of their honey-bags. The hum.ble- 

 bees after this flew away to collect a fresh supply. The hive-bees did 

 them no harm, and never once showed their stings ; — so that it seems to 

 have been persuasion rather than force that produced this singular instance 

 of self-denial. This remarkable manoeuvre was practiced for more than 

 three weeks ; when the wasps being attracted by the same cause, the 

 humble-bees entirely forsook the nest.^ 



The workers are the most numerous part of the community, but are 

 nothing when compared with the numbers to be found in a vespiary or a 

 bee-hive : two or three hundred is a large population for a humble-bees' 

 nest; in some species it not being more than fifty or sixty. They may 

 more easily be studied than either wasps or hive-bees, as they seem not to 

 be disturbed or interrupted in their works by the eye of an observer.^ 



' I am, &c. 



1 Hub. Nouv. Observ. ii. 373. 



* This account of the proceedings of humble-bees is chiefly taken from Reaumur, vi. 

 M6m. 1. ; and M. P. Huber in Linn. Trans, vi. 214. 



