208 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



ing, he would linger round the tubs and vessels, begging 



a draught of wliat he called hee-'wine. As he ran about, 



he used to make a humming noise with his lips resem- 



bliniT the buzzing of bees. This lad was lean and sal- 

 ts o 



low, and of a cadaverous complexion ; and except in his 

 favourite pursuit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, 

 discovered no manner of understanding. Had his ca- 

 pacity been better, and directed to the same object, he 

 had perhaps abated nmch of our wonder at the feats of 

 a more modern exhibiter of bees ; and we may justly say 



of him now, 



«' Thou, 



Had thy presiding star propitious shone, 

 Should'st Wildman be *." 



The worker bees are annual insects, though the queen 

 will sometimes live more than two years ; but, as every 

 swarm consists of old and young, this is no argument for 

 burning them. It is a saying of bee-keepers in Hol- 

 land, that the first swallow and the first bee foretell each 

 other^. This perhaps may be correct there; but with 

 us the appearance of bees considerably precedes that 

 of the swallow ; for when the early crocuses open, if the 

 weather be warm, they may always be found busy in 

 the blossom. 



The time that bees will inhabit the same stations is 

 wonderful. Reaumur mentions a countryman who pre- 

 served bees in the same hive for thirty years'^. Thorley 

 tells us that a swarm took possession of a spot under the 

 leads of the study of Ludovicus Vives in Oxford, where 

 they continued a hundred and ten years, from 1520 to 

 1630"^. These circumstances have led authors to ascribe 



» White's Nat. Hid. 8vo. i. 339— t^ Swamm. Jhh. Xat. Ed. 

 Hill. i. 160. ' ubisupr.mh. -'178— 



