70 Transactions of tJie [Sess. 



ter on the tree, she procured a large tub of water, and drowned the 

 entire swarm. Then came a very strong remonstrance from Mr Thom- 

 son, but the only reply he received was that " she neither wanted 

 Mr Thomson nor his Bees in her garden, and what was more, she 

 would not have them." This was followed by a lawyer's letter 

 demanding compensation for destruction of property, and it ended 

 in the lady paying what was considered an equivalent for the 

 value of the swarm, to avoid litigation. So the law upon the point 

 is still unsettled ; but the British Bee-Keeper's Association have 

 resolved, when another case arises, to obtain a legal decision on 

 the point, entertaining scarcely a doubt that such decision will be 

 in accordance with what is the universal custom. 



There are two instances on record of swarms of Bees settling on 

 human beings, and these may perhaps interest you. The first is 

 mentioned by Mr Lombard ; the second by an old English Bee- 

 keeper named Thorley, in the year 1717, and recorded in Wildman's 

 book. Lombard says : — 



"A young girl of my acquaintance was greatly afraid of Bees, but was 

 completely cured of her fear by the following incident. A swarm having left 

 the hive, I observed the queen alight by herself at a little distance from the 

 apiary. I immediately called my little friend that I might show her this im- 

 portant personage. She was anxious to have a nearer view of her majesty, 

 and therefore, having first caused her to draw on her gloves, I gave the queen 

 into her hand. Scarcely had I done so when we were surrounded by the 

 wliole Bees of the swarm. In this emergency I encouraged the trembling 

 girl to be steady and to fear nothing, remaining myself close to her, and cov- 

 ering her head and shoulders with a thin handkerchief. I then made her 

 stretch out her hand, which held the queen, and the Bees instantly alighted 

 on it, and hung from her fingers as from the branch of a tree. The girl, ex- 

 periencing no injury, was delighted above measure at the novel sight, and so 

 entirely freed from fear that she bade me uncover her face. The spectators 

 were charmed at the interesting spectacle. I at length brought a hive, and 

 shaking the swarm from the child's hand, it was lodged in, safety without 

 inflicting a single sting." 



This is Thorley's account of a somewhat similar occurrence : — 



"In the year 1717 one of my swarms settled among the twisted branches 

 of a Codlin tree, and not to be got into a hive without help, my maid-servant, 

 lieing in the garden, offered her assistance to hold the hive while I dislodged 

 the Bees. Having never been acquainted with Bees, she put a linen cloth 

 over her head and shoulders, to secure her from their stings. A few of the 

 Bees fell into the hive, and some on the ground, but the main body upon the 

 cloth which covered her garments. I took the hive out of her hands when 

 she cried out that the Bees were got under the covering, and were crowding 

 up towards her breast and face, which put her into a trembling posture. 

 When I perceived the veil was of no further service, she gave me leave to 

 remove it. This done, a most affecting spectacle presented itself to the view 

 of all the company, filling me with the deepest distress and concern, as I 

 thought myself the unhappy instrument of drawing her into so imminent 

 hazard of her life. Had she enraged them, all resistance would have been 

 vain, and nothing less than her life would have atoned for the offence. I 

 spared not to use all the arguments I could think of, and used the most 



