88 Transactions. 



superstitious beliefs ; and being- anxious to find out if any of these 

 old superstitions still existed in Scotland, a circular letter was 

 addressed to a good many clergymen in the rural parishes of the 

 southern part of the country, giving the heads of the points I 

 wished information upon, and asking their kind assistance in the 

 matter. Comparatively few answers to the appeal were received, 

 and still fewer that bore at all on the subject of my inquiries. 

 From a few of my correspondents, however, some very interesting 

 information was obtained, and to these gentlemen I have to return 

 my best thanks for the trouble they have taken in assisting me. 

 In only two or three cases can it be said there is any direct 

 evidence of these superstitions being still current amongst the 

 country folks, but there is no doubt that some of them, at all 

 events, do exist both in this country and in some of the English 

 rural districts. Country folk are generally exceedingly reticent 

 when questioned about matters of this kind, and it is difficult to 

 find out, from their answers, whether they believe or not. As one 

 of my correspondents says, in accounting for the small success he 

 had, " Superstitious people generally have a great disinclination 

 to exhibit their superstitions before educated people especially." 

 This is quite true, as any one must have observed in prosecuting 

 inquiries of the kind. An instance came under my observation the 

 other day (from Suffolk) of the belief that if bees were not formally 

 informed of a death occurring in the family they would die. 

 " When grandfather died mother went round to every hive, and 

 tapped it, and told the bees, and, oh ! they did set up a howling." 

 An old man who was present remarked — " Bees don't want no talk 

 about 'em ; if there's a fuss over 'em they'll do no good. Now, 

 my wife there don't like bees (' but I never say so,' put in the wife), 

 so I doubt my stock won't do. They'll have no talk about 'em ; 

 they won't do unless things is as they like, and you can't force 

 'em." The method adopted for informing the bees of a death, as 

 alluded to above, is by going to each separate hive and whispering 

 to the inhabitants that so and so was dead, and this was more 

 particularly necessary if the death happened to be the head of the 

 family. One of my correspondents writes : " I was visiting a 

 woman after the death of her father. She told me all the bees 

 had died ; ' of course they were hardly expected to live,' she 

 added. ' Why ? ' I asked. ' Because,' she i^aid, ' bees mostly die 

 after a death in the house.' " He further adds, " I suspect that 



