32 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



very choice in their nutriment, and are by no means 

 delicate in regard to the quahty of honey, they are 

 far from being inrlifTerent with regard to quantity. ' 

 They soon discover, and consequently fiequent the 

 places where most is to be found, and they quit their 

 hive much less in regard to the fineness or tempera^ 

 ture of the weather, than according to their prospects 

 of a plentiful or a scanty collection. When the lime- 

 tree and black-thorn blossom, they brave the rain, 

 departing before sun-rise, and returning later than 

 ordinary ; but this activity soon relaxes : when the 

 flowers begin to fade, and when the scythe has cut 

 down the fields of clover, the bees are seldom tempted 

 to go from their hom.e by the most brilliant sun- 

 shine.'* 



With respect to poisonous honey, the earliest 

 notice of it we have met with is given iDy Xenophon, 

 who tells us that, during the memorable retreat of 

 the ten thousand Greeks from Persia, the soldiers, 

 on coming to a place near Trebizonde, where there 

 was a great number of bee-hives, sucked some of 

 the combs, and in consequence became intoxicated, 

 and were seized with a virulent cholera morbus. f 

 Tournefort, the celebrated French botanist, when in 

 the vicinity of Trebizonde, was anxious to ascertain 

 the facts mentioned by Xenophon, and obtained good 

 reason to be satisfied with his inquiries, lie con- 

 cluded that the poisonous honey is collected from a 

 flowering shrub, abundant in that neighbourhood, 

 the very odour of whose blossoms, smelling like 

 honey-suckle, produce intoxicating effects. J It is not 

 very clear, from his description, whether it is the rose- 

 laurel {Rhododendron ponticum) or the yellow 



* Huber on Bees, page 25S. 

 t Memorabilia. 

 t Voyage du Levant ; 4to, Paris, 1717. 



