ENEMIES OF BEES. 205 



balanced by the destruction of the ants. Slaked 

 lime may be beneficially spread about a foot wide 

 round the apiary. The usual custom has been 

 to renew this sprinkling of lime every two or 

 three days : but the experiments q/MR. COLERIDGE 

 (Southey's Brazil, i. 645) show that this step is 

 unnecessary : by exposure to the air, lime is con- 

 verted into chalk ; and according to Mr. C., (who 

 states that the formic acid transpires from the 

 bodies of ants so as to leave its traces upon the 

 substances which they traverse,) if ants attempt to 

 pass over chalk, the effervescence produced be- 

 tween the chalk and the acid will be so consider- 

 able as to burn their legs. It has been said that 

 a bee cannot kill an ant, when bitten ; but that 

 the bee instead of making resistance, flies away 

 and carries the ant with it. 



M. REAUMUR was of opinion that ants were 

 not to be reckoned among the enemies of bees ; 

 and he relates an instance of their living as very 

 close neighbours, yet in perfect harmony. The 

 ants established themselves between the glass 

 panes of his bee-box and the wooden shutters 

 which covered them ; and as a similar circum- 

 stance occurred to BONNET, and in other of 

 Reaumur's hives also, it seems probable that the 

 ants took up their quarters in this situation for 

 the sake of the equable warmth that the bees 

 would impart to their eggs. " Ants were with- 



