THE BEE. 353 



mail, with which their bodies are encased, till one suc- 

 ceeds in suffocating the other by pressing its chest, or 

 adroitly thrusts its sting between the scales of its body 

 and thus instantly deprives it of life. In this insect 

 commonwealth, generally so well governed, murder passes 

 unpunished, and their private disputes are immediately 

 settled by an appeal to arms. ' On those fine spring days 

 in which the sun is beautiful and warm, duels may often 

 be seen to take place between two inhabitants of the same 

 hive, the offspring of the same mother. The causes which 

 bring division into so united a society have not been hither- 

 to ascertained. In some cases the quarrel appears to have 

 begun within, and the combatants may be seen coming 

 out of the gates eager ' for blows.' Sometimes a bee j>eac- 

 ably settled on the outside of the hive, or walking about, is 

 rudely jostled by another, and then the attack commences, 

 each endeavoring to obtain the most advantageous position: 

 They turn, pirouette, throttle each other ; and such is their 

 bitter earnestness that Reaumur has been enabled to 

 come near enough to observe them witli a lens, without 

 causing a separation. After rolling about in the dust, the 

 victor, watching the time when its enemy uncovers his 

 body, by elongating it in the attempt to sting, thrusts its 

 weapon between the scales, and the next instant its an- 

 tagonist stretches out its quivering limbs and expires. 

 A bee cannot be killed so suddenly, except by crushing, 

 as by the sting of another bee. Sometimes the stron- 

 ger insect produces the death of the vanquished by 

 squeezing its chest. After this feat has been done, 

 the victorious bee constantly remains, says Reaumur 

 near his victim, standing on his four front legs and rub- 

 bing the two posterior ones together. Sometimes the en- 

 emy is killed in the hive ; then the victor always car- 

 ries the corpse out of the city and leaves it. These 

 combats are strictly duels, not more than two being con- 

 cerned in them ; and this is even the case when armies 

 of bees meet in combat.' 



Highly as we may applaud the industry of the bee, its 

 honesty after all, is rather questionable. In moral in- 



YOL. II. NO. XV. 30* 



