434 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



with poison, he presented it to some workers, which were settled very 

 tranquilly before the gate of their mansion. Instantaneously the little 

 party was alarmed : none, however, took flight ; but two or three darted 

 upon the poisoned instrument, and one angrily attacked the observer. 

 When, however, the poison was coagulated, they were not in the least 

 affected by it. A tube impregnated with the odor of poison recently 

 ejected being presented to them, affected them in the same manner.^ 

 This circumstance may sometimes occasion battles amongst them that are 

 not otherwise easy to be accounted for. 



Anger is no useless or hurtful passion in bees : it is necessary to them 

 for the preservation of themselves and their property, which, besides those 

 of their own species, are exposed to the ravages of numerous enemies. 

 Of these I have already enumerated several of the class of insects, and 

 also some beasts and birds that have a taste for bees and their produce. 

 The Merops apiaster (which has been taken in England), the lark and 

 other birds, catch them as they fly. Even the frog and the toad are said 

 to kill great numbers of bees ; and many that fall into the water probably 

 become the prey of fish. The mouse also, especially the field-mouse, in 

 winter often commits great ravages in a hive, if the base and orifices are 

 not well secured and stopped.^ Thorley once lost a stock by mice, which 

 made a nest and produced young amongst the combs."^ The titmouse, 

 according to the same author, will make a noise at the door of the hive, 

 and v/hen a bee comes out to see what is the matter will seize and devour 

 it. He has known them eat a dozen at a time. The swallows will 

 assemble round the hives and devour them like grains of corn.^ I need 

 only mention spiders, in whose webs they sometimes meet with their end ; 

 and earwigs and ants, which creep into the hive and steal the honey .^ 



Upon this subject of the enemies of bees, I cannot persuade myself to 

 omit the account Mr. White has given of an idiot boy, who from a child 

 showed a strong propensity to bees. They were his food, his amusement, 

 his sole object. In the winter he dozed away his time in his father's 

 house, by the fireside, in a torpid state, seldom leaving the chimney-cor- 

 ner ; but in summer he was all alert and in quest of his game. Hive- 

 bees, humble-bees, and wasps were his prey, wherever he found them. 

 He had no apprehension from their stings, but would seize them with 

 naked hands, and at once disarm them of their weapons, and suck their 

 bodies for the sake of their honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his 

 bosom between his shirt and skin with these animals ; and sometimes he 

 endeavored to confine them in bottles. He was very injurious to men 

 that kept bees ; for he would glide into their bee-gardens, and sitting 

 down before the stools, would rap with his fingers, and so take the bees 

 as they came out. He has even been known to overturn the hives for 

 the sake of the honey, of which he was passionately fond. Where me- 

 theglin was making, he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging 

 a draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran about, he used to make 

 a humming noise with his lips resembling the buzzing of bees. This lad 

 was lean and sallow, and of a cadaverous complexion ; and except in his 

 favorite pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner 



' ii. 380. ^ Schirach, 53. » J70. 



« Eeaum. v. 710. * Thorley, 171. 



