BEES. 1;;- 



the church should be set on fire. At last a veteran apia- 

 rian was sent for from the next village. He immediately 

 planted a ladder ag-ainst the exterior wall, and examined 

 the stones until he discovered the entrance to the bees' 

 habitation. It was a mere fissure between two stones* 

 where some of the mortar had fallen out, and the remainder 

 been extracted by the bees for their own convenience. 

 After surveying' the prospect for some time, he declared 

 that a stone must be taken out of the wall before the bees 

 could be dislodg-ed, and immediately began to loosen the 

 stone which had already been partly deprived of its mor- 

 tar. The bees, of course, were highly indignant at such an 

 assault, but the man coolly proceeded with his work, not 

 heeding their anger in the least. When the stone had been 

 completely loosened, he laid by the crowbar, and deliberately 

 pulled it out with his hands. Out rushed a perfect cloud 

 of bees full in his face ; but he quietly laid the stone down, 

 and contented himself with brushing them off his face until 

 he had made further investigations. All the spectators 

 took to flight at the first appearance of the enraged bees ; 

 but their imperturbable enemy remained quietly at his 

 post, and after descending' the ladder pulled some eight or 

 ten bees out of his hair, and remarked that they had not 

 stung him so much as he expected. It turned out that the 

 man was almost invulnerable to stings ; and although 

 several dozen stings or so were in his face they did not 

 leave the slightest mark, and certainly did not appear to 

 inconvenience him in the very smallest degree. He after- 

 wards in the same cool manner extracted the greater part 

 of the combs, and the bees taking the hint speedily evacu- 

 ated the premises. There was but little honey, but abun- 

 dance of black, worn-out combs, and plenty of young bees 

 in every stage of advancement. It is said that if any one 

 is repeatedly stung by scorpions the pain diminishes each 

 time, and that at last the system is entirely uninjured by 

 it. An EngHsh naturalist was bold enongh to try the 

 experiment upon himself, and found that after he had been 

 stung' four or five times the pain was comparatively trifling. 

 Perhaps the same may be the case with regard to the bee- 

 stmgs, and tbe old man just mentioned })ossibly owed his 

 immnnity to his frequent experience, as Mithridates was 



