192 A TOUK KOUND MT GAK.DEN. 



the bees would be angry at a want of respect, wbich would 

 lead them to believe they were considered as strangers, and 

 not as part of the family. And you may have repeated to 

 you, as long as you are willing to listen, instances in which 

 such and such a one has lost all his bees, from failing in this 

 act of politeness towards the bees, who refused to live with 

 such ill-bred people, and flew away. Still further; you must, 

 on no account, swear when you are near bees. If you buy 

 a swarm, you must not haggle about the price ; bees hate 

 meanness, and will not stay with you if you do. They have 

 an antipathy to thieves ; I believe it is a question, however, 

 whether this extends beyond the plunderers of honey. These 

 virtuous flies love virtuous men, know how to distinguish 

 them, and entertain a strong hatred for vice and the vicious. 

 It is not safe to go near them with any crime upon your con- 

 science. 



It is very evident, that if these flies were more numerous 

 and larger, they would suffice for making virtue reign upon 

 earth, and would very advantageously fill the places of 

 judges, policemen, and gaolers. 



AD. these simple tales, I repeat, are particularly contemp- 

 tible, in this respect ; they have only been imagined in order 

 to attribute to bees something marvellous, which is really far 

 beneath the truth. 



We will content ourselves, in the journey we are about to 

 make round my hive, with the things we shall see with our 

 two eyes. 



What a concourse at the opening of the hive ! Never was 

 the public square of a great city witness of such agitation ! 

 Some bees are issuing in great haste, and flying away to a 

 distance in search of provisions, whilst others are returning 

 loaded with them. We must, in the first place, ascertain 

 what the bees thus go to seek in the neighbouring country : 

 the first thing is a sort of resin, called propolis, which they 

 find upon certain trees — firs, yews, birches, &c. ; next, pollen, 

 or the fecundating powder of flowers, of which they make 

 bee-bread ; and then they plunder the nectaries of flowers for 

 a juice which becomes honey. 



Here is one bringing materials: after having rolled itself 

 in the poUen of flowers, it has, with its hind feet made spoon- 



