1882-83.] Edinburgh Naturalists' Field Club. 63 



naturalists, and volumes upon volumes have been written respect- 

 ing tliem. I 23ropose to treat tlie subject thus, — first, glancing at 

 Bee literature, and the natural history of Bees ; then their various 

 species, both indigenous and introduced, and the habits of the in- 

 sects ; then to enumerate some of the flowers most frequented by 

 them ; afterwards to consider their enemies ; and afterwards their 

 natural and artificial habitations, combined with such general re- 

 marks as may occur to me. 



Among the early writers on the subject we have Aristotle, born 

 381 years before the Christian era; Virgil, born seventy years be- 

 fore Christ ; and Pliny the elder, who lived about the time of our 

 Saviour ; and afterwards a learned Spaniard, Columella, who wrote 

 his ' De Ee Rustica ' in the first century. 



Virgil wrote very fully on Bees, and I will give a few literal 

 translations from the Fourth Georgic. He says : " First, a proper 

 station must be sought for the Bees, to which winds have no access ; 

 and let lizards with speckled backs be kept far away from the rich 

 hives ; and woodpeckers, and other birds, and the swallow, whose 

 breast is stained with blood,- — for these birds create great havoc, 

 and in their beaks bear away the Bees while on the wing, sweet 

 morsels for their merciless young. But let clear springs and pools 

 edged with green moss be near, and let green cassia, and far-smelling 

 wild thyme, and strong-scented savory, and beds of violet, be near 

 the spring." He also mentions, as favourable to the insects, " the 

 glowing crocus, the gummy lime, and the purple hyacinth ; " and 

 he states that " the life of a Worker-Bee is not prolonged beyond 

 the seventh summer." But if he had said the seventh month, he 

 would have been far nearer the truth. Virgil also tells us that, 

 while their king is safe, all live in perfect harmony ; but on his 

 death they dissolve their union : that he is their guardian, — they 

 biizz around him, and in vast numbers protect him. He also states 

 that Bees often take up little stones to steady them in their flight, 

 as unsteady vessels do in a rough sea. This, no doubt, is in allu- 

 sion to the balls of pollen carried by the insects in the peculiar 

 cavities in their hind legs. It is pretty clear that Virgil knew but 

 little of the true natural history of Bees, or the internal economy of 

 the hive, and was not even aware that the principal Bee was a 

 female, for he speaks of her throughout as a king : and as there 

 were no glass hives in those times, his remarks were restricted to 

 the results of external observations. Bvit Virgil had observed that 

 there were two species of Bees then, as now, in Italy, — namely, our 

 common black Bee [Apis melUJica), and the Italian or Ligurian, or, 

 as it is often designated, the Alp Bee [Apis Ligust'ica) ; and he 

 very truthfully mentions the latter as the preferable species, 

 where he says " there are two sorts of bees — one glowing with 

 refulgent spots of gold, and conspicuous by its glittering scales ; 



