BEES, BKE-UIVES, AND BEE CULTURE. 89 



The best safeguard from the anger of bees— as indeed from the malice 

 of men — is a quiet and peaceable spirit. The apiarian will learn to 

 handle his bees not only as "if he loved them," — as the quaint 

 angler says — but as if he fully believes that the bees love Mm. 

 This they will do whenever he approaches and treats them gently. 

 There are some cases of exception to this generally peaceable dis- 

 position of the bee; sometimes a few bees are dyspeptic, and 

 refuse to be pacified — let their master seek to bribe them never so 

 wisely. Then, too, sometimes the bee-master himself may be 

 dyspeptic, which the unerring olfactory sense of the bees speedily 

 detects, and their anger is immediately aroused. Some few persons, 

 owing to constitutional peculiarities in their breath or insensible 

 perspiration, are objects of constant animosity with bees, who by 

 driving them from the apiary, are giving a physician's advice without 

 charge for a fee. Some of the choicest perfumes used by ladies are 

 offensive to bees : and one may feel very certain that the " fine puss 

 gentleman," who disgusted the brave Hotspur with his " pouncet 

 box" and praise of "'parmaceti for an inward bruise," would 

 have been speedily driven from an apiary in ignominious flight. 

 Occasionally, even a skilful apiarian may inadvertently crush a single 

 bee J such a mischance is detected by the community with much 

 more facility than by any " crowner's quest," and their prompt 

 verdict decrees the summary punishment of the offender. There 

 would be much less fear of stings if it were always remembered 

 that bees are never aggressive. " Defence, not defiance," is their 

 motto. They scarcely ever attempt to sting when away from the 

 hive, and very seldom indeed at the time of swarming, for then they 

 are gorged with honey. When molested by angry bees, the safest 

 and best retreat is a green bush. Thrust your head into this, and 

 the bees will soon leave you. 



Yet some people appear to think they must inevitably be stung 

 if they meddle with bees; and for their sakes it is needfyl to 

 explain why it is that a sting is painful, and how the wound 

 inflicted by the bee may be cured. Those familiar with the usual 

 microscopic objects will know how marvellously delicate, and yet 

 effective, is the mechanical structure of a bee's sting. This weapon 

 as we see it with our naked eye — finer than a needle's point — is 

 only the sheath, which lengthens or contracts like the tubes of 

 a telescope. From the sheath is projected the dart, which is double. 



