ANGEK OF BEES. 311 



Cotton, quoting from Butler, who, in these remarks, 

 follows mainly Columella, says : 



" Listen to the words of an old -writer : ' If thou wilt have the 

 favour of thy bees, that they sting thee not, thou must avoid such 

 things as offend them : thou must not be unchaste or uncleanly ; 

 for impurity and sluttiness (themselves being most chaste and 

 neat) they utterly abhor ; thou must not come among them smell- 

 ing of sweat, or having a stinking breath, caused either through 

 eating of leeks, onions, garlick, and the like, or by any other 

 means, the noisomeness whereof is corrected by a cup of beer ; 

 thou must not be given to surfeiting or drunkenness ; thou must 

 not come puffing or blowing unto them, neither hastily stir among 

 them, nor resolutely defend thyself when they seem to threaten 

 thee ; but softly moving thy hand before thy face, gently put them 

 by ; and lastly, thou must be no stranger unto them. In a word, 

 thou must be chaste, cleanly, sweet, sober, quiet, and familiar ; 

 so will they love thee, and know thee from all others. When 

 nothing hath angered them, one may safely walk along by them 

 but if he stand still before them in the heat of the day, it is a 

 marvel but one or other spying him, will have a cast at him.'* 



" Above all, never blowf on them; they will try to sting directly, 

 if you do. 



" If you want to catch any of the bees, make a bold sweep at 

 them with your hand ; and if you catch them without pressing 

 them, they will not sting. I have so caught three or four at a 

 time. If you want to do anything to a single bee, catch him { as 

 if you loved him,' between your finger and thumb, where the tail 

 joins on to the body, and he cannot hurt you." 



If a person is attacked by angry bees, not the slightest 



* Many persons imagine themselves to be quite safe, if they stand at a consider- 

 able distance from the hives ; whereas, cross bees delight to attack those whose 

 more distant position makes them a surer mark to their long-sighted vision, than 

 persons who are close to their hives. 



t While bees resent the toarm breath exhaled slowly from the lungs, I have 

 ascertained, that they will run from a blast of cold air blown upon them by the 

 month of the operator, almost as quickly as from smoke. Before employing smoke, 

 I often used a pair of bellows. 



