362 THE LIFE OF AN INSECT. 



stances. Bees, our exemplars in so many points, 

 might be consulted with advantage, and would 

 often give us better information as to whether 

 an over-coat or an umbrella would be probably 

 required, than the not always trustworthy baro- 

 meter. When engaged in their daily labours, 

 if a change of weather to rain is at hand, although 

 the sun may yet shine and the sky remain clear 

 and calm, they foresee it, and return suddenly 

 to their hives. Hence in weather of an unsettled 

 description they never undertake journeys far 

 from home, but make short excursions to and from 

 their hives, being never absent long at a time ; 

 and if we find a bee wandering far from its hive, 

 it may be taken, on the other hand, as a pretty 

 sure prognostic that top-coat and umbrella may 

 be left at home for that day at least. Ants, 

 as we have already noticed, possess the same 

 faculty of weather-wisdom, never allowing their 

 larvae to be caught in a shower. The abundance 

 of insects in our houses in wet weather, is a familiar 

 observation ; we are assured that in hot countries 

 their excessive numbers, during the rainy season, 

 make these little creatures almost as terrible 

 as a plague to all who are within climbing up 



