THE COURAGE OF BEES. 17 



nicely corked — that there is just room enough left for one 

 bee to pass in and out. On the return of warm weather 

 the protecting sandbag is removed. 



The story of the dead snail in a bee-hive is worth 

 mentioning. Snails are very fond of honey, and often 

 take lodgings for months inside a hive. They eat bot h 

 honey and wax . Bees attack and drive from their hive 

 every enemy but snails and worms. These they will not 

 touch. It happened that a snail died in one, and was 

 more unpleasant to the bees after death than before ; but 

 they could not cast it out. Their ingenuity was set to 

 work, resulting in a coffin of wax being built around the 

 snail. 



The ingenuity of bees is manifest when they are at 

 work on a windy day. In calm weather they fly pretty 

 straight on their journeys to and from the fields ; but 

 when wind is high, they seek the shelter of houses, 

 banks, and fences. Often have we seen them flying at 

 great speed along open drains and ditches, and in this 

 way escaping the violence of the wind. And when it 

 becomes necessary for them to leave their sheltered course, 

 they rise like a rocket, and dive again into the most 

 sheltered way. 



The Courage of Bees. 



Cowardice is not an element of their nature ; they fear 

 no foe, and shrink from no danger. A bee cannot be 

 cowed or dispirited by knock-down blows from the hand 

 of man. If not stunned to inability, it will rise courage- 

 ously to attack after being knocked down ten or a dozen 

 times. Bees are furnished with weapons of defence ; and 

 they know how to use them. We say defence, for that is 

 the proper word ; for when they attack anybody or any- 

 thing, it is owing to some molestation either received or 



B 



