166 HABITS AND INSTINCTS OF ANIMALS. CHAP. V, 



emit a very low hum ; but no sooner does any strange 

 insect or enemy touch their antennae, than the guard is 

 put into an evident commotion,, the hum becomes 

 louder, and the enemy is assailed by the bees from the 

 interior of the hive. To defend themselves from the 

 death's-head hawk moth, they have recourse to a dif- 

 ferent proceeding. In seasons when they are annoyed 

 by this animal,, they barricade the entrance of their hive 

 by a thick wall, made of wax and propolis. This wall 

 stops up the gateway, but is itself pierced with one or 

 two openings, each sufficient for the passage of a work- 

 ing bee. These fortifications, however, are occasionally 

 varied. Sometimes there is only one wall, as above 

 described ; at others, many little bastions, one behind 

 the other, are erected. Gateways masked by the in- 

 terior walls, and not corresponding with those in them, 

 are made in the second line of building. These case- 

 mented gates are not constructed by the bees without the 

 most urgent necessity. When their danger is present 

 and pressing, and they are, as it were, compelled to 

 seek some preservative, they have recourse to this mode 

 of defence, which places the instinct of these animals 

 in a wonderful light, and shows how admirably they 

 can adapt their proceedings to circumstances. Dr. 

 Leach (on the authority of Mr. D. Bydder, a well- 

 informed collector, whom we personally knew) informed 

 Mr. Kir by that the humble or ground bee (Apis ter- 

 restris}) when covered by those small mites (Gamasus 

 gymnoptcrorum Fab.) which frequently infest it, will 

 take its station in an ant-hill, where it will begin to 

 make a disturbance by scratching and kicking : the 

 ants, enraged at such a bold enemy, sally forth and im- 

 mediately attack him ; the bee, however, is secure, by his 

 hairy coat, from their jaws, but the mites become the 

 victims : they are seized by the ants ; and are either de- 

 stroyed on the spot, or carried off in their jaws in triumph, 

 while the bee, thus delivered of his enemies, opens 

 his wings with renewed vigour, and takes his flight. 

 (185.) We might extend this inviting subject to a 



