SENSES OF BEES. 305 



fever, and long confined by it ; on his recovery he 

 attempted to resume his favourite amusement 

 among the bees, returning to them with all that 

 confidence and pleasure which he had felt on 

 former occasions ; when to his great surprise and 

 disappointment he discovered that he was no 

 longer in possession of their favour ; and that in- 

 stead of being received by them as an old friend, 

 he was treated as a trespasser : nor was he ever 

 able, after this period, to perform any operation 

 upon them, or to approach within their precincts, 

 without exciting their anger. Here then it is 

 pretty evident that some change had taken place 

 in the Counsellor's secretions, in consequence of the 

 fever, which though not noticeable by his friends, 

 was offensive to the olfactory nerves of the bees. 

 I had this anecdote from Monsieur de Hofer's son, 

 with whom I passed a very agreeable evening in 

 London at the house of my friend Joseph Hod- 

 getts, Esq. 



The extreme sensitiveness of smell in bees is 

 evinced by their promptitude in resenting an 

 injury inflicted on any of their community. In 

 hiving, or performing any other operation upon 

 them, great caution should therefore be observed, 

 lest any of them be trodden upon or crushed to 

 death. It may be thought that this promptitude 

 to resent the injury I have here mentioned, may 

 not proceed from the acuteness of their smell, 



