43-2 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



to dissuade them from their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his bee- 

 hives, and throw them in the middle of this furious mob. The effect was 

 what might be expected ; they were immediately put to flight, and happy 

 if they escaped unstung.^ 



The anger of bees is not confined to man ; it is not seldom excited 

 against their own species. From what I have said above respecting the 

 black bees^ and their fate, it seems not improbable that, when the workers 

 become too old to be useful to the community, they are either killed, or 

 expelled the society. Reaumur, who observed that the inhabitants of the 

 same hive had often mortal combats, was of opinion that this was their 

 object in these battles^, which take place, he observes, in fine or warm 

 weather. On these occasions the bees are sometimes so eager, that 

 examining them with a lens does not part them : — their whole object is to 

 pierce each other with their sting, the stroke of which, if once it pene- 

 trates to the muscles, is mortal. In these engagements the conqueror is 

 not always able to extricate this weapon, and then both perish. The 

 duration of the conflict is uncertain ; sometimes it lasts an hour, and at 

 others is very soon determined : and occasionally it happens that both 

 parties, fatigued and despairing of victory, give up the contest and fly 

 away. 



But the wars of bees are not confined to single combats ; general actions 

 now and then take place between two swarms. This happens when one takes 

 a fancy to a hive that another has preoccupied. In fine warm weather, 

 strangers that wish to be received amongst them meet with but an indif- 

 ferent welcome, and a bloody battle is the consequence. Reaumur wit- 

 nessed one that lasted a whole afternoon, in which many victims fell. In 

 this case the battle is still between individuals, who at one time decide 

 4he business within the hive, and at another at some distance without. In 

 the former case the victorious bee flies away, bearing her victim under 

 her body between her legs, sometimes taking a longer and sometimes a 

 shorter flight before she deposits it upon the ground. She then takes her 

 repose near the dead body, standing upon her four anterior legs, and rub- 

 bing the two hinder ones against each other. If the battle is not con- 

 cluded within the hive, the enemy is carried to a little distance, and then 

 dispatched. 



This strange fury, however, does not always show itself on this occa- 

 sion ; for now and then some friendly intercourse seems to take place. 

 Bees from a hive in Mr. Knight's garden visited those in that of a cottager 

 a hundred yards distant, considerably later than their usual time of labor, 

 every bee as it arrived appearing to be questioned. On the tenth morn- 

 ing, however, the intercourse ceased, ending in a furious battle. On 

 another occasion, an intimacy took place between two hives of his own, 

 at twice the distance, which ceased on the fifth day. Sometimes he 

 observed that this communication terminated in the union of two swarms: 

 as in one instance, where a swarm had taken possession of a hollow tree^, 

 it is probable that the reception of one swarm by another may depend 

 upon their numbers, and the fitness of their station to accommodate them. 

 Thorley witnessed a battle of more than two days' continuance, occasioned 



» Lesser, 1. ii. 171. 2 See above, p. 394. ^ Reaum. v. 360—365. 



* Philos. Trans. 1807, 234. 



