212 ODD HOURS WITH NATURE 



tribe, a person without respect for the glorious 

 traditions of the apian race. But no ; I turn 

 to the other sunflowers and find that each has its 

 bee, some two, and that all the bees are behaving 

 in substantially the same way. There has evidently 

 been a complete break up of the moral foundations 

 of the bee world. 



The case must be investigated, so with a pencil 

 I touch the first bee prod him in the ribs, so to 

 speak. Generally speaking, the action of a bee 

 which is prodded in the ribs may be predicted. 

 It utters a fierce buzz, rises on speedy wing, 

 flies bang into the face of the author of the 

 outrage, and stings. It will not have liberties 

 taken with it, will a bee. But the behaviour of 

 the animal on the sunflower is not modelled on 

 the conventional bee tradition even in this respect. 

 A large, well-developed, and muscular bee, with 

 great breadth of beam, it seems pre-eminently 

 adapted for belligerency, but when pushed in its 

 hairy side the most it does is to feebly raise one 

 leg and wave it in the air. There is a weak 

 sputter of bee -noise, and noise and action together 

 say quite plainly, " Go 'way." The bee does not 

 withdraw its proboscis from the floret. I push 

 it more energetically, and it responds by waving 

 two legs, but still sticks determinedly to the busi- 

 ness of suction. Apparently the nectar in the 

 sunflower is extraordinarily seductive, so good, in 

 fact, that while it flows down the bee's throat 

 every passion but that of indulgence goes into 

 retirement. 



The investigation must be pushed further. We 



