§ XII.] GENERAL REMARKS. 341 



we received a few years back from a seminary in the north 



of England : " Master presents his compliments to 



Messrs. Neighbour, and begs they will send him a swarm 

 of bees; he encloses six postage stamps, and hopes they 

 will send him a good swarm." This embryo naturalist 

 was evidently of a mercantile turn, and had a mind to 

 buy in the cheapest market, for in a postscript he adds -. 

 " Please let it be fourpence, if you can ! " We need 

 scarcely say that, in reply, we endeavoured to enlighten 

 our juvenile correspondent as to what constituted a 

 swarm of bees, and returned the stamps, with our 

 thanks. 



Superstition Respecting Bees. 



Much superstition has existed, and, in some quarters, 

 still exists, among the poor respecting bees. If a death 

 occurs in the family of the bee-owner, these superstitious 

 folk consider it needful to make the bees aware of the 

 bereavement by "waking" them; that is, by giving a 

 few raps at the entrance, and audibly announcing the 

 circumstance. If this be not done, "no luck," say they, 

 will come of the bees the following season. One sum- 

 mer, even near the metropolis, we heard a cottager 

 bemoaning to his neighbour " his bad luck with his 

 bees," when the other replied, " Ah ! no wonder ; you 

 never ' waked ' your bees when your wife died ; what 

 can you expect if you omit such needful duty ? " In 

 many parts of France, as well as here, it is a custom on 

 such occasions to put the bees into mourning, by placing 



