184 ANIMAL INTELLIGENCE. 



characteristic as are the motions of a pickpocket to a skilful 

 policeman. Its sneaking look, and nervous, guilty agitation, 

 once seen, can never be mistaken.' It is, at any rate, natural that 

 a bee which enters a wrong hive by accident should be much 

 surprised and alarmed, and would thus probably betray herself. 



On the whole, then, I do not attach much importance to 

 their recognition of one another as an indication of intelligence. 



Since their extreme eagerness for honey may be attributed 

 rather to their anxiety for the common weal than to their desire 

 for personal gratification, it cannot fairly be imputed as greedi- 

 ness ; still the following scene, one which most of us have wit- 

 nessed, is incompatible surely with much intelligence. The sad 

 fate of their unfortunate companions does not in the least deter 

 others who approach the tempting lure from madly alighting 

 on the bodies of the dying and dead, to share the same miserable 

 end. No one can understand the extent of their infatuation 

 until he has seen a confectioner's shop assailed by myriads of 

 hungry bees. I have seen thousands strained out from the 

 syrup in which they had perished ; thousands more alighting 

 even upon the boiling sweets, the floor covered and windows 

 darkened with bees, some crawling, others flying, and others 

 still, so completely besmeared as to be able neither to crawl nor 

 fly, not one in ten able to carry home its ill-gotten spoils, and 

 yet the air filled with new hosts of thoughtless comers. 



Passing on now to the statements of other observers,, 

 Huber first noticed the remarkable fact that when bee- 

 hives are attacked by the death's-head moth the bees 

 close the entrance of their hive with wax and propolis to 

 keep out the marauder. The barricade, which is built 

 immediately behind the gateway, completely stops it up 

 — only a small hole being left large enough to admit a 

 bee, and therefore of course too small to admit the moth.. 

 Huber specially states that it was not until the beehives 

 had been repeatedly attacked and robbed by the death's- 

 head moth, that the bees closed the entrance of their hive 

 with wax and propolis. Pure instinct would have induced 

 the bees to provide against the first attack. Huber also 

 observed that a wall built in 1804 against the death's- 

 head hawk-moth was destroyed in 1805. In the latter 

 year there were no death's-head moths, nor were any seen 

 during the following. But in the autumn of 1807 a large 

 number again appeared, and the bees at once protected 



