344 PLINY'S NATURAL HISTORY. [Book XXI 



stance that honey said to have come from that district is usually 

 tested, it being highly prized for medicinal preparations. 



CIIAF. 47. BEEHIVES, AND THE ATTENTION WHICH SHOULD BE 



PAID TO THEM. 



The hives ought to have an aspect due east, 85 but never look- 

 ing towards the north-east or the west. The best hives arc 

 those made of bark, the next best those of fennel-giant, and the 

 next of osier : many persons, too, have them made of mirror- 

 stone, 86 for the purpose of watching 87 the bees at work within. 

 It is the best plan to anoint the hives all over with cow-dung. 

 The lid of the hive should be made to slide from behind, so as 

 to admit of being shut to within, in case the hive should prove 

 too large or their labours unproductive; for, if this is not 

 done, the bees are apt to become discouraged and abandon 

 their work. The slide may then be gradually withdrawn, the 

 increase of space being imperceptible to the bees as the work 

 progresses. In winter, too, the hives should be covered with 

 straw, and subjected to repeated fumigations, with burnt cow- 

 dung more particularly. As this is of kindred 88 origin with 

 the bees, the smoke produced by it is particularly beneficial in 

 killing all such insects as may happen to breed there, such as 

 spiders, for instance, moths, 89 and wood- worms ; 90 while, at the 

 same time, it stimulates the bees themselves to increased acti- 

 vity. In fact, there is little difficulty in getting rid of the 

 spiders, but to destroy the moths, which are a much greater 

 plague, a night must be chosen in spring, just when the mal- 

 low is ripening, there being no moon, but a clear sky : flam- 

 beaux are then lighted before the hives, upon which the moths 

 precipitate themselves in swarms into the flame. 



85 Fee remarks here that Pliny is right, and that Columella and Palla- 

 dius are wrong, who would have the hives to look due north. 



86 Lapis specularis : a sort of talc, probably. See B. iii. c. 4. B. ix. c. 

 56. B. xv. c. 1. B. xix. c. 23, and B. xxxvi. c. 45. 



87 In B. ix. c. 16, he mentions hives made of horn for this purpose. 

 Glass hives are now made for the purpose, but the moisture which adheres 

 to the interior of the glass prevents the operations of the bees from being- 

 watched with any degree of nicety. 



88 ** Cognatum hoc." He probably alludes to the notion entertained 

 by the ancients that bees might be reproduced from the putrefied entrails of 

 an ox, as wasps from those of a horse. See the story of Aristseus in B. 

 iv. of Virgil's Georgics. 



89 Or butterflies" papiliones." 9Q " Teredines." 



