APIDiE — BEES. 185 



wars. A very curious observer and fancier says that this 

 has been the case from the time of the movements in France, 

 Prussia, and Hungary, up to the present time.^ 



In Bishopsbourne, England, there prevails the singular 

 superstition of informing the Bees of any great public event 

 that takes place, else they will not thrive so well.^ 



In Monmouthshire, England, the peasantry entertain so 

 great a veneration for their Bees, that, says Bucke, some 

 years since, they were accustomed to go to their hives on 

 Christmas eve at twelve o'clock, in order to listen to their 

 humming; which elicited, as they believed, a much more 

 agreeable music than at any other period ; since, at that 

 time, they celebrated, in the best manner they could, the 

 morning of Christ's nativity.^ 



Sampson, in his Statistical Survey of the County of Lon- 

 donderry, 1802, p. 436, says that there "Bees must not be 

 given away, but sold; otherwise neither the giver nor the 

 taker will have Zwc^."* 



A clergyman in Devonshire, England, informs us that 

 when any Devonian makes a purchase of Bees, the payment 

 is never made in money, but in things (corn, for instance) 

 to the value of the sum agreed upon ; and the Bees are 

 never removed but on a Grood Friday.^ In western Penn- 

 sylvania, it is thought by some of the old farmers that the 

 vender of the Bees must be away from home when the hive 

 is taken away, else the Bees will not thrive. 



Another superstition is that if a swarm of Bees be met 

 with in an open field away from any house, it is useless to 

 hive them, for they will never do a bit of good. 



In many parts of England, a popular opinion is that 

 when Bees remove or go away from their hives, the owner 

 of them will die soon after.^ 



It is commonly believed among us that if Bees come to a 

 house, it forebodes good luck and prosperity; and, on the 

 contrary, if they go away, bad luck. 



A North German custom and superstition is, that if the 

 master of the house dies, a person must go to the Beehive, 



^ N'.^Q., xii. 200. 



2 Mag. of Nat. Hist., ii. 405. 



5 Bucke on Nature, i. 419. 



* Brand's Pop. Antiq., ii. 300, 



5 Ibid. 6 TUd. 



n 



