QUEER FRUITS 

 FROM THE BEE'S BASKET 



July itfth 



ONSIEUR COBWEB . . . kill me a 

 red -hipped bumblebee on the top 

 of a thistle," says Bottom to the 

 fairy in Midsummer-Night's Dream. 

 And Titania urges the fairies to a sim- 

 ilar warfare against the bees : 



"The honey -bags steal from the humblebees, 

 And, for night -tapers, crop their waxen thighs," 



but Shakespeare gave expression to a very common er- 

 ror when he implied that these " thighs " of the bee 

 were laden with wax. The bee, whether the honey-bee 

 or the bumblebee, has two distinct errands in his visits 

 to the blossoms. " He gathers honey all the day," 'tis 

 true, but he also plunders the flower of its golden pol- 

 len at the same time, as we all know, from the plump 

 " baskets " which we see him carrying as he hies back 

 to the hive. 



But these yellow "saddle-bags" are not "wax," as 

 Shakespeare implies, nor have they any connection with 

 the structure of the honey-comb. They are, in truth, 



