A SHEAF OF NATURE NOTES 



Speaking of the intelligence of bees reminds me 

 of a well-known woodsman and camp-fire man who 

 recently extolled in print the intelligence of hornets, 

 saying that they have the ability to differentiate 

 friends from foes. "They know us and we talk to 

 them and they are made to feel as welcome as any 

 of our guests." "When a stranger visits the camp, 

 they attract the attention of one they know who 

 recognizes their signal by thought or gesture and leaves 

 immediately, returning only when the stranger has 

 departed." (The italics are mine.) He says the> 

 same hornets apparently come to them year after 

 year, greeting them on their arrival, and, should 

 they be accompained by strangers, they treat them 

 with the same deference as "when they visit us 

 after we have been in camp some time." 



Did one ever hear before of such well-bred and 

 well-mannered bees? What would Maeterlinck 

 say to all that? Its absurdity becomes apparent 

 when we remember that hornets live but a single 

 season, that none of them lives over the winter, 

 save the queen, and that she never leaves the nest 

 in summer after she has got her family of workers 

 around her. 



III. ODD OB EVEN 



ONE of our seven wise men once said to me, "Have 

 you observed that in the inorganic world things go 



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