182 AVIDJE — BEES. 



Pliny says : " Certain it is, that if a menstrnous woman do 

 no more but touch a Bee-hive, all the Bees will be gone and 

 never more come to it again. "^ 



In Western Pennsylvania, it is believed that Bees will in- 

 variably sting red-haired persons as soon as they approach 

 the hives. 



It is a common opinion that Bees in rough and boisterous 

 weather, and particularly in a violent storm, carry a stone 

 in their legs, in order to preserve themselves by its weight 

 against the power of the wind. Its antiquity is also great, 

 for in the writings of Plutarch we find an instance of this 

 remarkable wisdom. " The Bees of Candi," says this philos- 

 opher, "being about to double a point or cape lying into 

 the sea, which is much exposed to the winds, they ballase 

 (ballast) themselves with small grit or petty stones, for to 

 be able to endure the weather, and not be carried away 

 against their wills with the winds through their lightness 

 otherwise.'" 



Yirgil, too, about a century earlier, mentions this curious 

 notion in the following lines : 



And as when empty barks on billows float, 



With sandy ballast sailors trim the boat; 



So Bees bear gravel stones, whose poising weight 



Steers through the whistling winds their steady flight. ^ 



Swammerdam, who has noticed this belief of the ancients, 

 makes the following remarks : " But this, as Clutius justly 

 observes, has not been hitherto remarked by any Bee-keeper, 

 nor indeed have I myself ever seen it. Yet I should think 

 that there may be some truth in this matter, and probably 

 a certain observation, which I shall presently mention, has 

 given rise to the story. There is a species of wild Bees not 

 unlike the smallest kind of the Humble-Bee, which, as they 

 are accustomed to build their nests near stone walls, and 

 construct their habitations of stone and clay, sometimes carry 

 such large stones that it is scarcely credilile by what means 

 so tender insects can sustain so great a load, and that even 

 flying while they are obliged also to support their own body. 



1 Xat. IIiH., xxviii 7. IIoll. Trans., p. 308. 



2 Pluiarch, Land and Water Creatures Compared. Holl. Trans., p. 



3 Georg. iv. 283-7. Dryden's Trans. 



