Insects 381 



than of several other virtues with w^hich she 

 is mistakenly accredited. Industry, for 

 example. Bees get out of the way of laying 

 up honey, if they can find a weaker hive to 

 plunder. Plundering is indeed so universal 

 an instinct, and so well recognized among 

 bees, every swarm has a few guards whose 

 business it is to watch the hive and at 

 once sting to death any stray bee that creeps 

 into it. 



Bees also lose industry in the time of 

 cider-making, if that process lasts longer than 

 a day. They hum and buzz around the 

 mills or the trough, swarm over the pomace, 

 and end by getting gloriously drunk as the 

 cider gets hard. They will cluster thick 

 along the edge of an open bucket, sucking, 

 sucking, until sometimes when they try to fly 

 away, they either tumble helplessly to the 

 ground, or describe zigzag somersaults 

 infinitely diverting. They will also feed 

 supinely upon shallow pans of sugar and 

 water set conveniently near, though richly 

 flowered fields and woods may invite. 



Still they are active, and fine workers if 

 they must be. In early spring, when the 

 plum-blossoms swell, the first flowers are not 

 open before the bees begin to haunt them. 

 It is the same with the peach trees. There 

 the bees show discrimination. Unrifled, a 



