BOOK IX. viii. 8-IO 



hopes of our catching swarms of them ; and the 

 following is the method of finding them. First we 

 must try to discover how far away they are, and 

 for this purpose liquid red-ochre must be prepared ; 

 then, after touching the backs of the bees with stalks 

 smeared with this liquid as they are drinking at the 

 spring, waiting in the same place you will be able 

 more easily to recognize the bees when they return. 

 If they are not slow in returning, you will know that 

 they dwell in the neighbourhood ; but if they are 

 late in doing so, you will calculate the distance by 

 the period of their delay. If you notice them return- 9 

 ing quickly, you will have no difficulty in following 

 the course of their flight and will be led to where 

 the swarm has its home. As regards those who 

 apparently go farther away, a more ingenious plan 

 will be adopted, as follows. The joint of a reed with 

 the knots at either end is cut and a hole bored in the 

 side of the rod thus formed, through which you 

 should drop a little honey or boiled-down must. 

 The rod is then placed near a spring. Then when a 

 number of bees, attracted by the smell of the sweet 

 liquid, have crept into it, the rod is taken away and 

 the thumb placed on the hole and one bee only 

 released at a time, which, when it has escaped, shows 

 the line of its flight to the observer, and he, as long 

 as he can keep up, follows it as it flies away. Then, 10 

 when he can no longer see the bee, he lets out 

 another, and if it seeks the same quarter of the 

 heavens he persists in following his foi'mer tracks. 

 Otherwise he opens the hole and allows them to 



^2 apem turn ac : apertum SA. 

 12 petit ac : cepit SA. 



455 



