A BEE-HUNTER 177 



ments and research : the tactics of the Philanthus. As 

 a witness of its ferocious feasting, the true motive of 

 which was unknown to me, I treated it to all the un- 

 favourable epithets I could think of ; called it assassin, 

 bandit, pirate, robber of the dead. Ignorance is always 

 abusive ; the man who does not know is full of violent 

 affirmations and malign interpretations. Undeceived by 

 the facts, I hasten to apologise and express my esteem for 

 the Philanthus. In emptying the stomach of the bee 

 the mother is performing the most praiseworthy of all 

 duties ; she is guarding her family against poison. If 

 she sometimes kills on her own account and abandons 

 the body after exhausting it of honey, I dare not call 

 her action a crime. When the habit has once been 

 formed of emptying the bee's crop for the best of 

 motives, the temptation is great to do so with no other 

 excuse than hunger. Moreover — who can say ? — perhaps 

 there is always some afterthought that the larvae might 

 profit by the sacrifice. Although not carried into effect 

 the intention excuses the act. 



I therefore withdraw my abusive epithets in order to 

 express my admiration of the creature's maternal logic. 

 Honey would be harmful to the grubs. How does the 

 mother know that honey, in which she herself delights, 

 is noxious to her young ? To this question our knowledge 

 has no reply. But honey, as we have seen, would 

 endanger the lives of the grubs. The bees must therefore 

 be emptied of honey before they are fed to them. The 

 process must be effected without wounding the victim, 

 for the larva must receive the latter fresh and moist ; and 

 this would be impracticable if the insect were paralysed 

 on account of the natural resistance of the organs. The 



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