184 APIDyE— BEES. 



frreat store, and of which an opinion is conceived, that the 

 first doo breed of the corruption of dead horses, the second 

 of pears and apples corrupted, and the last of kine and 

 oxen; which may be true, especiallie the first and latter in 

 some parts of the beast, and not their whole substances, as 

 also in the second, sith we never have waspes but when our 

 fruit beginneth to wax ripe."^ 



To conclude the history of this belief, the following re- 

 marks of the learned Svvararaerdam will not be inappropri- 

 ate. He says: " It is probable that the not rightly under- 

 standing Samson's adventure of the Lion, gave rise to the 

 popular opinion of Bees springing from dead Lions, Oxen, 

 and Horses; and this opini^on may have been considerably 

 strengthened, and indeed in a manner confirmed, by the 

 great number of Worms that are often found during the 

 summer months in the carcasses of such animals, especially 

 as these Worms somewhat resemble those produced from 

 the eggs of Bees. However ridiculous this opinion must 

 appear, many great men have not been ashamed to adopt 

 and defend it. The industrious Goedaert has ventured to 

 ascribe the origin of Bees to certain dunghill Worms, and 

 the learned de Mei joins with him in this opinion ; though 

 neither of them had any observation to ground their belief 

 upon, but that of the external resemblance between the Bee 

 and a certain kind of Fly produced from these Worms." ^ 



The opinion that stolen Bees will not thrive, but pine away 

 and die, is almost universal.^ It is, too, of reverend anti- 

 quity, for Pliny mentions it : " It is a common received 

 opinion, that Rue will grow the better if it be filched out of 

 another man's garden ; and it is as ordinarie a saying that 

 stolen Bees wall thrive worst. "'^ 



In South Northamptonshire, England, there is a super- 

 stition that Bees will not thrive in a quarrelsome family.^ 

 It might be well to promulgate this and the nex;t preceding 

 superstition. This prevails among us. 



In Hampshire, England, it is a common saying that Bees 

 are idle or unfortunate at their work whenever there are 



1 HoUings. Chron., i. 384. 



2 Swam. Hist, of Ins., Pt. I. p. 228. 



3 N. and Q., ii. 35G. 



* Nat. Hist., xix. 7. Holl. Trans., p. 23. E. 



^ N. and Q., ii. 165. Chamb. Bk. of Days, i. 752. 



