1921 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



447 



eggs which will find there the only 

 food that they need. Sine; it is every 

 day and at every hour of the good 

 season that the bees are in danger of 

 the invasion of so many enemies, 

 preserving Providence demands of 

 them a sustained watching, very won- 

 derful for the brains of a fly, a super- 

 vision in every moment which is wor- 

 thy of admiration. 



I tell you this because T have seen 

 it, not with my own eyes, but through 

 the help of those who have put theirs 

 to my service, and upon whom it has 

 been necessary for me lo rely; this 

 observation has been the flrst one of 

 all those that I have made. I al- 

 ready knew, through others and es- 

 pecially through the eminent Reamur, 

 the fine order which reigns in the bee 

 hives, but I ignored entirely when and 

 how this order could be disturbed ; 

 chance taught it to me. 



One day we were expecting a 

 swarm to issue; I had stationed my- 

 self near the hive which was to 

 swarm. 



It was a great glass bell, sheltered 

 from light which would disturb the 

 bees, with a veil that could be re- 

 moved — just as you remove your own 

 — so that we might see what took 

 place within the hive without causing 

 any noise or jars that might alarm 

 them. It was warm that day, drowsi- 

 ness overtook me and I went to sleep, 

 with my head resting against the hive 

 v.-hich I had undertaken to watch. 

 Suddenly I was awakened by a noise 

 coming from the hive and which ap- 

 peared to me much greater than the 

 humming that one always hears in 

 the habitations of the bees and which 

 is usually very soft. I rang for Bur- 

 nens, to seek its cause. Great was 

 our surprise when, after having lifted 

 the veil, we saw, on the bottom 

 board of the hive, a fine and big green 

 lizard, lying on its back and slain 

 with violence, as you will soon see. 

 Near its dead body some thirty dead 

 bees were also lying. Had they been 

 killed by him in defending himself? 

 This was our first impression ; but we 

 soon altered it when we saw, driven 

 into the belly of the lizard, all the 

 stings of the bees which had put him 

 to death by sacrificing their own lives 

 .for the safety of the household. 



Paley says, in his "Physical The- 

 ology," that one finds in the insects 

 the models of useful instruments. 

 One finds there also, dear Elisa, beau- 

 tiful examples to imitate. Is not 

 death in defense of one's country the 

 first and most honorable of our du- 

 ties? The ancients who did not dis- 

 regard this, wrote in their beautiful 

 Roman language: 



"Dolce et decorum est pro patria 

 mori." (It is sweet and beautiful to 

 die for Oi'e's -.ountry.) 



My sleepiness had not permitted 

 me to see the first act of thit tragedy; 

 but other examples of a similar oc- 

 currence, noticed in similar circum- 

 sl;;nees, enable me to tell you with- 

 out hesitancy what had evidently 

 happened. 



The beauty of the weather and of 

 the expected harvest had evidently at- 

 tracted a third, or perhaps a half, of 

 the workers to the blossoms; those 



which other cares retained in the hive 

 were probably thinking about the pro- 

 jiosed founding of a new home, and 

 perhaps did not, as usual, watch the 

 entrance of the hive £ gainst enemies 

 and keep a sufficient guard there. 



The lizai-d was thus able to enter 

 without finding great opposition. He 

 was perhaps lucky enough to eat a 

 few of the sentinels in passing, but it 

 was not with impunity. In case of 

 an attack, general or individual, the 

 lustle of the workers, caused by the 

 rapid buzzing of their wings, pro- 

 duces a sound which may be termed 

 a danger call. 



This call, with which I am acquaint- 

 ed, and which I can readily distin- 

 guish from any other, is, you may 

 believe, still better perceived by the 

 bees. This bu^.zing finds an echo in 

 all parts cf the hive; when they are 

 made of glass it is as easy to see as 

 to hear it. It is therefore thus that 

 they transmit ndvice of any danger 

 which threatens them and the request 

 to be on their guard in any part of 

 the home. If the signal which an- 

 nounces danger to them has but the 

 duration of lightning, its effects are 

 truly equal to those of a thunder-bolt. 



Worker-bees in sufficient number, 

 and doubtless in proportion to the 

 strength of the enemy, rush upon 

 them and at once put them "hors de 

 combat." We know by our own ex- 

 perience that their death must be as 

 painful as it is- prompt. 



The bite of vhe viper, so dangerous, 

 is not ai ail lo be feared when its 

 ven.ini has bion drained by repeated 

 biting. That which renders the venom 

 cf the bees so painful for us and so 

 deadly for their natural enemies is 

 also the presence, at the end of the 

 two spears which compose the stin.ur, 

 of a bright drop of poison which 

 shows itself on its forward point. 



At the will of the irritated bee, the 

 venom is carried, or rather forced, 

 into the body of the enemy and 

 causes its almost instantaneous death, 

 for from the poison sack, located at 

 the root of the sting, the poison has 

 but a short space to travel towards 

 its extremity in order to reach the 

 full depth of the wound which the 

 two spears have produced. 



You now know what happened to 

 the lizard of which I wrote a minute 

 ago and how the bees get rid of 

 usurpers. Will you now, my dear 

 girl, take a few oteps more with your 

 friend? Please follow the thread 

 which he has put in your hands, in 

 order to help you out of the laby- 

 rinth in which you are now engaged, 

 with him. 



The hives which are governed by 

 a young and fertile queen and are 

 filled with a numerous population are 

 but little in danger of invasions; 1 

 have seen some that did not have to 

 repulse a single attack or need to 

 avenge a single insult during the en- 

 tire year of existence; I say insults to 

 avenge, because I must acknowledge 

 that my cherished bees ar'; decidedly 

 vindictive; it is their failing and I 

 must not conceal it from you. 



One day I ran the risk of testing 

 this myself; having caused a hive to 

 be raised from its bottom to cleanse 



the latter, the person who was doing 

 this for me probably touched and 

 wounded a few workers. I heard the 

 danger call ; some hundreds of work- 

 ers answered it, rushed out of the 

 hive and upon me; my clothing and 

 the promptness of my flight permit- 

 ted me to reach the house without be- 

 ing stung. Remember my blindness 

 and think of how little I could have 

 done in my own defense at so critical 

 a moment. Certainly I had to be 

 thankful, and I feel so yet. 



The greater number of the bee^ 

 that had rushed at me returned home, 

 but three or four remained which did 

 all in their power to enter the parlor 

 in which I had taken refuge, by flying 

 against the windows and keeping it 

 up for half an hour with a very re- 

 markable fierceness. When I thought 

 they had withdrawn and imagined 1 

 could go safely out of my retreat, 

 one of the most furious workers 

 threw herself upon the person who 

 had taken my arm, .'tung him miser- 

 ably under the eye and died herself, 

 leaving in the wound her sting and 

 her entrails. I have often seen their 

 resentment prolonged a much longer 

 time. 



Whenever my gardener was raking 

 too near the hives, the workers that 

 rested upon the ground, killed or 

 wounded by the rake, were soon 

 avenged. The danger call was heard 

 within the hives; the gardener was 

 often punished for his clumsiness. 



During the two or three days fol- 

 lowing such eveitement, no one could 

 approach the apiary without sutir'ering 

 the effects of the offended bees' ran- 

 cour. Those that had foliowed me 

 with the fierceness of which I wrote, 

 would stop sometimes long enough on 

 the panes of the window to enable 

 one to distinctly see the end of their 

 i'bdomen; and the bright drops of 

 poison on the end of their stings in- 

 dicated that they had been drawn and 

 poisoned for my benefit. 



If the primary cause of their anger 

 was not always noted by us, it was 

 perhaps not so difficult to understana 

 their prolonged anger. The cause 

 was probably entirely natural. 



My first thought was that the pres- 

 ence of the escaped poison, its odor 

 probably perceived by the bees, might 

 have an irritating action upon .some 

 of their organs. An experiment was 

 to prove it to us; here is what I de- 

 vised: 



We introduced a few b3es in a tube 

 of small diameter, the length of which 

 did not exceed 6 inches, its lower 

 opening was hermetically closed, the 

 other could be closed with the finger 

 or in some other manner. 



In order that the bees might give 

 this tube the odor of poison, they 

 were slightly disturbed with a straw 

 or the stem of a flower. Then the 

 opening of the tube was presented at 

 the entrance of a hive, after having 

 uncovered it. The effect was imme- 

 diate; a few bees came out of the 

 hive at once and threw themselves 

 upon us. We would have been stung, 

 undoubtedly, if a veil, some gloves 

 and a good hood had not protected us 

 from their anger. 



(To be Continued'; 



