38 DEATH'S HEAD SPHINX. 



prudence prepared to obviate inconveniencies, which 

 the insect neither can know nor anticipate. It is 

 only when danger is present, when it is pressing and 

 immediate, that, compelled to seek protection, it 

 employs this last resource. Thus it is curious to 

 observe an insect, so well armed and supported by 

 the advantage of numbers, securing itself by an 

 admirable combination against the inefficiency of its 

 weapons and its courage. The art of warfare among 

 bees, therefore, is not restricted to attacking their 

 enemies ; they know also to construct ramparts, as 

 shelter from their enterprises ; from the part of simple 

 soldiers, they pass to that of engineers. 



" But it is not against the Sphinx alone that they 

 must be guarded. Weak hives are sometimes attacked 

 by stranger bees, attracted by the odour of the 

 honey, and the hopes of easy pillage. Those beset, 

 being unable to defend themselves from this invasion, 

 are known to have recourse to a measure resembling 

 that employed against the hostile moth. Then, also, 

 they raise walls, leaving only narrow openings for 

 the passage of a single bee at a time, and which, 

 therefore, can be easily protected. 



" But a period arrives when these galleries are no 

 longer suitable to the bees. At the time that their 

 harvest is abundant, their hive excessively populous, 

 and the formation of new colonies approaches, they 

 demolish the gateways which had been erected in 

 the hour of danger, and which now restrain their 

 impetuosity. Such safeguards have become incon- 



