S98 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



These apiarian battles are often fought in defence of the property of the 

 hive. Bees that are ill managed, and not properly fed, instead of collect- 

 ing for themselves, will now and then get a habit of pillaging from their 

 more industrious neighbours : these are called by Schirach corsair bees, 

 and by English writers robbers. They make their attack chiefly in the 

 latter end of July, and during the month of August. At first they act 

 with caution, endeavouring to enter by stealth ; and then, emboldened by 

 success, come in a body. If one of the queens be killed, the attacked bees 

 unite with the assailants, take up their abode with them, and assist in 

 plundering their late habitation. 1 Schirach very gravely recommends it 

 to apiarists whose hives are attacked by these depredators, to give the 

 bees some honey mixed with brandy or wine, to increase and inflame their 

 courage, that they may more resolutely defend their property against their 

 piratical assailants. 2 It is, however, to be apprehended that this method 

 of making them pot-valiant might induce them to attack their neighbours 

 as well as to defend themselves. 



Sometimes combats take place in which three or four bees attack a single 

 individual, not with a design to kill, but merely to rob: one seizes it by one 

 leg, another by another; till perhaps there are two on each side, each 

 having hold of a leg ; or they bite its head or thorax. But as soon as the 

 poor animal that is thus haled about and maltreated unfolds its tongue, 

 one of the assailants goes and sucks it with its own, and is followed by the 

 rest, who then let it go. These insects, however, in their ordinary labours 

 are very kind and helpful to each other ; I have often seen two, at the 

 same moment, visit the same flower, and very peaceably despoil it of its 

 treasures, without any contention for the best share. 



As the poison of bees exhales a penetrating odour, M. Huber was 

 curious to observe the effect it might produce upon them. Having ex- 

 tracted with pincers the sting of a bee and its appendages impregnated with 

 poison, he presented it to some workers, which were settled very tranquilly 

 before the gate of their mansion. Instantaneously the little party was 

 alarmed : none, however, took flight ; but two or three darted upon the 

 poisoned instrument, and one angrily attacked the observer. When, how- 

 ever, the poison was coagulated, they were not in the least affected by it. 



after which they were hived in the regular way, and appeared to be doing well. 

 On the Saturday after, a swarm of bees, from some neighbouring hive, appeared to 

 be flying over the garden in which the hive above mentioned was placed, when 

 they instantly darted down upon the hive of the new settlers, and completely co- 

 vered it : in a little time they began to enter the hive, and poured into it in such 

 numbers that it soon became completely filled. A loud humming noise was heard, 

 and the work of destruction immediately ensued ; the winged combatants sallied 

 forth from the hive, until it became entirely empty; and a furious battle com- 

 menced in " upper air," between the besiegers and the besieged. A spectator in- 

 forms us, that these intrepid little warriors were so numerous, that they literally 

 darkened the sky over-head like a cloud ; meanwhile the destructive battle raged 

 with fury on both sides, and the ground beneath was covered with the wounded and 

 the slain ; hundreds of them were l}*ing dead, or crawling about, disabled from 

 reascending to the scene of action. To one party, however, the palm of victory was 

 at last awarded ; and they settled upon the branch of an adjoining apple-tree, from 

 which they were safely placed in the empty hive, which had been the object of 

 their valiant contention, and where they now continue peacefully and industriouslj 

 employed in adding to the stores of their commonwealth. 

 1 Comp. Schirach, 49. Mills, 62. Thorley, 163. 2 51. 



