118 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



ing, will often make an aperture at the base of the co- 

 rolla, or even in the calyx, that they may insert their 

 proboscis in the very place where nature has stored up 

 her nectar''. M. Huber relates a singular anecdote of 

 some hive-bees paying- a visit, to a nest of humble-bees 

 placed under a box not far from their hive, in order to 

 steal or beg their honey ; which places in a strong light 

 the good temper of the latter. This happened in a time 

 of scarcity. The hive-bees, after pillaging, had taken 

 almost entire possession of the nest. Some humble-bees 

 which remained in spite of this disaster, went out to 

 collect provisions ; and bringing home the surplus after 

 they had supplied their own immediate wants, the hive- 

 bees followed them, and did not quit them till they had 

 obtained the fruit of their labours. They licked them, 

 presented to them their proboscis, surrounded them, 

 and thus at last persuaded them to part with the con- 

 tents of their honey-bags. The humble-bees after this 

 flew away to collect a fresh supply. The hive-bees did 

 them no harm, and never once showed their stings ; — 

 so that it seems to have been persuasion rather than 

 force that produced this singular instance of self-denial. 

 This remarkable manoeuvre was practised for more 

 than three weeks ; when the wasps being attracted by 

 the same cause, the humble-bees entirely forsook the 

 nesf*. 



The workers are the most numerous part of the com- 

 munity, but are nothing when compared with the num- 

 bers to be found in a vespiary or a beehive : — two or 

 three hundred is a large population for a humble-bees 



^ Hub, Nouv. Observ. ii. 375. " Ibid. 373— 



