BOOK XI. VIII. i8-x. 21 



a great deal of the honey obtained in the broom- 

 thickets in Spain tastes of that plant. I also think 

 that olives are wrongly excepted, as it is certain 

 that the largest number of swarms are produced 

 where oHve-trees are growing. No harm is done to 

 any kind of fruit. They do not settle even on dead 

 flowers, let alone dead bodies. They work within a 

 range of sixty paces, and subsequently when the 

 flowers in the vicinity have been used up they send 

 scouts to further pastures. If overtaken by night- 

 fall on an expedition they camp out, recHning on 

 their backs to protect their wings from the dew. 



IX. Nobody must be surprised that love for bees 

 inspired Aristomachus of SoH to devote himself to 

 nothing else for 58 years, and PhiHscus of Thasos 

 to keep bees in desert places, winning the name 

 of the Wild Man ; both of these have written about 

 them. 



X. Their work is marveUously mapped out on the Their 

 foHowing plan : a guard is posted at the gates, after ^,^,"-'"''"" 

 the manner of a camp ; they sleep tiH dawn, until v:ork. 

 one bee wakes them up with a double or triple buzz 



as a sort of bugle-call ; then they aH fly forth in a body, 

 if the day is going to be fine — for they forecast winds 

 and rain, in case of which they keep indoors ; and 

 consequently men consider this inaction on the 

 part of the bees as one of the prognostics of the 

 vveather. When the band has gone out to its tasks, 

 some bring home flowers in their feet and others 

 water in their mouth and drops cHnging to the down 

 all over their body. While the youthful among 

 them go out to their tasks and coHect the things 

 mentioned above, the older ones work indoors. 

 Those coHecting flowers vdth their front feet load 



445 



