168 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE- 



intention of stinging, but finding themselves imprisoned will re- 

 taliate with the only weapon they have available. With exper- 

 ience even this protection will be found cumbersome and unneces- 

 sary. Bare arms and the shirt sleeves rolled up above the elbow, 

 will be found a better security against stinging than the protec- 

 tion I have described. If a bee alights on the bare arm, let it 

 alone ; it has not gone there for the purpose of stinging, and 

 driving it off may irritate it into action. If a bee intends to sting 

 the only notice it gives is a little sharper tone than usual. If it 

 has made up its mind to sting, it don't go fooling around before 

 the final attack is made, it goes to business at once. 



Then again, some people protect the hands ; rubber gloves are 

 sold for the purpose. "A cat in gloves never catches mice," so 

 says an old saw. You cannot handle frames, etc., so freely as is 

 necessary with gloves on. Rubber gloves always keep the hands 

 very hot. Better than these bee gloves, land cheaper too, are 

 woollen gloves, with a pair of cotton ones pulled over them and 

 the gloves kept damp whilst you are manipulating. No bee will 

 sting through them if so treated. The only material that appears 

 to be impenetrable to the sting of a bee is rubber or leather, but 

 then the latter must be thick. Kid will not do ; they will sting 

 through it. Of course, if the material be so thick that the sting 

 cannot reach through it is right enough. The very first protec- 

 tion to be discarded should be gloves. I never wore a pair of 

 bee gloves in my life, and in my early days came off pretty freely 

 with the stings. 



Now there is one portion of protection should not be over- 

 looked. In a hive there are bees that have only just emerged from 

 the cell as well as bald-headed veterans. When inspecting a hive 

 and lifting out the frames there are bees on it of every age. Some 

 of the older ones fly off and return to the hive ; others cling to the 

 comb under observation ; some of the youngest bees try to imi- 

 tate the actions of their older sisters toi fly home, but suffering 

 from infantile weakness, are unable to do so, and fall to the earth. 



If too young to fly, they are not at all times too young to 

 sting. These young bees when under a sitate of siege are very 

 timid, and become much frightened. When they have fallen 

 to the ground, their first impulse is to return to the hive as quickly 

 as possible. To do so they ascend any elevation within reach, 

 among the most available being the lower extremities of the ope- 

 rator. These disturbed bees will clamber and invade the anatomy 

 of the human form divine, and finding all escape blocked, and 



