8 plint's natural history. [Book XI. 



never settle on a dead flower, much less a dead carcase. They 

 pursue their labours within three- score paces of their hives ; 

 and when the flowers in their vicinity are exhausted, they 

 send out scouts from time to time, to discover places for forage 

 at a greater distance. When overtaken by night in their ex- 

 peditions, they watch till the morning, lying on their backs, 

 in order to protect their wings from the action of the dew. 



CHAP. 9. (9.) PERSONS WHO HAVE MADE BEES THEIR STUDY. 



It is not surprising that there have been persons who have 

 made bees their exclusive study ; Aristomachus of Soli, for 

 instance, who for a period of fifty-eight years did nothing else ; 

 Philiseus of Thasos, also, surnamed Agrius, 22 who passed his 

 life in desert spots, tending swarms of bees. Both of these 

 have written works on this subject. 



CHAP. 10. (10.) THE MODE IN WHICH BEES WORK. 



The manner in which bees carry on their work is as follows. 

 In the _ day time a guard is stationed at the entrance of the 

 hive, like the sentries in a camp. At night they take their 

 rest until the morning, when one of them awakes the rest with 

 a humming noise, repeated twice or thrice, just as though it were 

 sounding a trumpet. They then take their flight in a body, 

 if the day is likely to turn out fine ; for they have the gift of 

 foreknowing wind and rain, and in such case will keep close 

 within their dwellings. On the other hand, when the weather is 

 fine — and this, too, they have the power of foreknowing — the 

 swarm issues forth, and at once applies itself to its work, some 

 loading their legs from the flowers, while others fill their 

 mouths with water, and charge the downy surface of their 

 bodies with drops of liquid. Those among them that are 

 young 23 go forth to their labours, and collect the materials 

 already mentioned, while those that are more aged stay within 

 the hives and work. The bees whose business it is to carry 

 the flowers, with their fore feet load their thighs, which Nature 

 has made rough for the purpose, and with their trunks load 



2 2 Or, the " wild man." 



23 Huber has discovered that there are two kinds of bees of neutral sex, 

 or, as he calls them, unprolific females, the workers, which go out. and 

 the nurses, which are smaller, and stay in the hive to tend the larva}.' 



