174 APIDiE — BEES. 



"Let the person be rubbed with the juice of wild-mallow, 

 and he will not be stung. "^ 



The Creoles of Mauritius eat the larvae of Wasps, which 

 they roast in the combs. In taking the nests, they drive off 

 the Wasps by means of a burning rag fastened to the end of 

 a stick. The combs are sold at the bazaar of Port Louis. ^ 



The following story, of the cunning of the fox in killing 

 the Wasps to obtain their combs, is told by ^Elian : "The 

 fox (a subtile creature) is said to prey upon the Wasp in 

 this manner: he puts his tail into the Wasps' nest so long 

 till it be all covered with Wasps, which he espying, pulls it 

 out and beats them against the next stone or tree he meets 

 withall till they be all dead, this being done again and again 

 till all the Wasps be destroyed, he sets upon their combs 

 and devours them.'" 



The Chinese Herbal contains a singular notion, prevalent 

 also in India, concerning the generation of the Sphex, or 

 solitary Wasp. AVhen the female lays her eggs in the 

 clayey nidus she makes in houses, she incloses the dead 

 body of a caterpillar in it for the subsistence of the worms 

 when they are hatched. Those who observed her entomb- 

 ing the caterpillar did not look for the eggs, and immediately 

 concluded that the Sphex took the worm for the progeny, 

 and say, that as she plastered up the hole of the nest, she 

 hummed a constant song over it, saying, "Class icith me/ 

 class wilh me!''' — and the transformation gradually took 

 place, and was perfected in its silent grave by the next 

 spring, when a winged Wasp emerged, to continue its pos- 

 terity the coming autumn in the same mysterious way.* 



Apidae — Bees. 



Concerning the piety of Bees, we find the following 

 legends : 



"A certaine simple woman having some stals of Bees which 



^ Owen's Geoponika, ii. 211. 



2 Backhouse's Mauritius, p. 32. 



3 Moufet, Theatr. Insect., p. 47. Topsel's Hist, of Four-footed 

 Beasts and Serpents, p. 925, 655. 



* William's Middle Kingdom; or Chinese Empire, i. 274. 



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