ROBBER BEES 



after cleaning up any honey that may have 

 been left carelessly about, will proceed to 

 pounce upon one weak colony after another, 

 and will often clean them out completely, — 

 to say nothing of the viciousness of their 

 tempers when robbing. 



When a single bee has succeeded in stealing 

 a load of honey from some weak hive, it seems 

 to have some means of communicating that 

 fact to the other members of its colony, for 

 when it rushes out for another load it is in- 

 variably accompanied by some of its comrades, 

 until literally thousands of bees are engaged 

 in robbing. 



With the bees no question of ethics is in- 

 volved in robbing, as they seem to regard as 

 legitimate prey any and all honey that is in 

 their reach, and they will keep on stealing 

 until means are taken by their keepers to stop 

 it. 



When honey is coming in from the fields 

 there is little danger of the bees robbing, and 

 extracting can be carried on in the open field 



259 



