THE HONEY-BEE. 195 



by bees, many bives of wbicb tbe inhabitants bad 

 stationed on tbe ruins. Tbe Janissaries., altbough the 

 bravest soldiers in tbe Ottoman empire, durst not en- 

 counter tbis formidable line of defence, and refused 

 to advance. " Our bees/' says M. Feburier, in re- 

 marking on tbese anecdotes, "are not so terrible. 

 Still, if we place ourselves witbin a few feet of a hive 

 to examine them, and do not carefully avoid all hasty 

 movements, we shall very soon perceive one or two 

 bees wheeling rapidly round us, with a shrill and pierc- 

 ing sound, very different from their ordinary humming. 

 In this case it will be prudent to take ourselves off, 

 or plunge the head into a bush, because tbe number 

 of the assailants will increase rapidly, and the attack 

 commence without a moment's delay. If, notwith- 

 standing the shelter of the bush, they continue their 

 enraged buzzing around us, it will be most prudent 

 to get quietly and quickly out of tbe way/' 



The following anecdote from Lesser, quoted by 

 Kirkby and Spence, will shew that even in the temper- 

 ate climate of Europe, the irritability of this insect may 

 be made a formidable means of defence. " During the 

 confusion occasioned by a time of war in 1525, a mob 

 of peasants assembling in Hohnstein in Thuringia, 

 attempted to pillage tbe house of the minister of 

 Elende, who having in vain employed all his eloquence 

 to dissuade them from their design, ordered his do- 

 mestics to fetch his bee-hives, and throw them in the 

 middle of this furious mob. The effect was what 

 might be expected ; they were immediately put to 

 flight, and happy to escape unstung." 



