152 ENEMIES OF BEES. 



partial attacks of single wasps, however, are of little 

 moment, farther than that they are, perhaps, explo- 

 ratory ; it is when they come in a hody that the safety 

 of a hive is endangered ; in such cases the utmost 

 care of the bee-master is often unavailing. The wily 

 insects soon discover the weakness of any particular 

 hive in point of population, and, acting on this disco- 

 very, attack it in such numbers, that nothing but its 

 removal can save it from speedy and utter destruction. 



Bad as wasps are, the Bees themselves are the 

 worst enemies to their own species. In a back- 

 ward spring, or toward the end of autumn, when the 

 population begins to be scanty, some bees may be 

 observed lounging about the apiary, as if conscious 

 that there was no present scope for the exercise of 

 honest industry, and, like other idlers, seem ripe for 

 any mischief. A single bee may be seen peering 

 into the entrances of several hives, as if to ascertain 

 the strength of the population, or the vigilance of 

 the guards ; and on finding access from a deficiency 

 in either of these particulars, proceeds to carry off 

 its load from the store-cells. After frequently re- 

 peating these domiciliary visits, it returns at last with 

 several of its companions, their numbers increasing 

 at every visit, till the hive becomes a scene of pillage 

 and slaughter. Their first endeavours are, it is said, 

 to find out and kill the Queen ; and after this catas- 

 trophe, the rightful owners seem to lose all interest 

 in their property, and associating at last with the 

 robbers, join in the plunder of their own stores.* 



* Old Butler, in his " Feminine Monarchic," published at 



