BEE-MASTERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES 41 



to venture near the apiary thus attired. In the 

 hives the old bees and the young were believed 

 to occupy separate quarters. In regard to this, 

 it is a well-attested fact that, during the height 

 of the honey season, the bees found in the upper 

 stories of a hive are principally young ones who 

 have not yet flown. 



We are told that if any of the bees have not 

 returned to the hive at the end of the day, the 

 queen goes out to find them and show them the 

 way back. No one need be in any fear of over- 

 looking the ruler of the hive, because she can 

 be known by her "lofty pace and countenance 

 expressing Majesty, and she hath a white spot 

 in her forehead glistering like a Diadem." 



An old writer advises that all the hives should 

 have holes bored right through them to prevent 

 spider-webs. He was also of opinion that the 

 bees swarmed because of the queen's tyranny, and 

 if she followed them, they put her to death. He 

 informs us that the drones were honey-bees which 

 had lost their stings and grown fat. This was a 

 very old idea, with which the sceptical Butler dealt 

 in the following fashion : " The general opinion 

 anent the Drone is that he is made of a honey-bee, 

 that hath lost hir sting ; which is even as likelie as 

 that a dwarfe, having his guts pulled out, should 

 become a gyant." But the bee-masters of the 

 Middle Ages were ever intolerant of other people's 

 mistaken ideas, while supporting with the gravest 



