PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 355 



Huber relates a singular anecdote of some hive-bees paying a visit to a nest 

 of humble-bees placed under a box not far from their hive, in order to steal 

 or beg their honey, which places in a strong light the good temper of the 

 latter. This happened in a time of scarcity. The hive-bees, after pillaging, 

 had taken almost entire possession of the nest. Some humble-bees, which 

 remained in spite of this disaster, went out to collect provisions ; and 

 bringing home the surplus after they had supplied their own immediate 

 wants, the hive-bees followed them, and did not quit them until they had 

 obtained the fruit of their labours. They licked them, presented to them 

 their proboscis, surrounded them, and thus at last persuaded them to part 

 with the contents of their honey-bags. The humble-bees after this flew 

 away to collect a fresh supply. The hive-bees did them no harm, and 

 never once showed their stings ; so that it seems to have been persua- 

 sion rather than force that produced this singular instance of self-denial. 

 This remarkable manoeuvre was practised for more than three weeks ; 

 when the wasps being attracted by the same cause, the humble-bees entirely 

 forsook the nest. 1 



The workers are the most numerous part of the community, but are 

 nothing when compared with the numbers to be found in a vespiary or a 

 bee-hive: two or three hundred is a large population for a humble-bees' 

 nest, in some species it not being more than fifty or sixty. They may 

 more easily be studied than either wasps or hive-bees, as they seem not to 

 be disturbed or interrupted in their works by the eye of an observer. 2 



I am, &c. 



1 Hub. Nouv. Observ. ii. 373. 



2 This account of the proceedings of humble-bees is chiefly taken from Reaumur, 

 vi. Mem. 1. ; and M. P. Huber in Linn. Trans, vi. 214. 



AA. 2 



