262 NATURALIST'S CABINET. 



Kindness to a hungry companion. 



the colour of the liquid it contains to be dis- 

 tinctly seen. This bladder is well known to chil- 

 dren who live in the country: they cruelly amuse 

 themselves with catching bees, and tearing them 

 asunder in order to suck the honey. The bees 

 are obliged to fly from one flower to another till 

 they fill their first stomachs. When they have 

 accomplished this, they return directly to the 

 hive, and disgorge in a cell the whole honey they 

 have collected. It not unfrequently happens, 

 however, that on its way to the hive the bee is 

 accosted by a hungry companion. How the 

 one manages to communicate its wants to the 



o 



other it is perhaps impossible to discover. But 

 the fact is certain, that, when two bees meet in 

 this situation, they mutually stop, and the one 

 whose stomach is full of honey extends its trunk, 

 opens its mouth, and, like a ruminating animal, 

 forces up the honey into that cavity. The hun- 

 gry bee, with the point of its trunk, sucks the 

 honey from the other's mouth. When not stop- 

 ped on the road, the bee proceeds to the hive, 

 and in the same manner offers its honey to those 

 who are at work, as if it meant to prevent the 

 necessity of quitting their labour in order to go 

 in quest of food. In bad weather, the bees feed 

 on the honey laid up in open cells ; but they 

 never touch their reservoirs while their compa- 

 nions are enabled to supply them with fresh ho- 

 ney from the fields. But the mouths of those 

 cells which are destined for preserving honey 



