RECKLESSNESS OF BEES. 286 
marked them. They returned; but I could not see 
them in the same part of the hive. One, however, I 
found not far off. 
At 9.30 brought out four bees, fed and marked them. 
One returned to the same part of the hive. I lost sight 
of the others. 
Since their extreme eagerness for honey may be 
attributed rather to their anxiety for the commonweal 
than to their desire for personal gratification, it cannot 
fairly be imputed as greediness; still the following 
scene, described by Dr. Langstroth, and one which 
most of us have witnessed, is incompatible surely with 
much intelligence. ‘No one can understand the 
extent. of their infatuation until he has seen a con- 
fectioner’s shop assailed by myriads of hungry bees. 
I have seen thousands strained out from the syrup 
in which they had perished ; thousands more alighting 
even upon the boiling sweets; the floor covered and 
windows darkened with bees, some crawling, others 
flying, and others still so completely besmeared as 
to be able neither to crawl nor fly—not one in ten 
able to carry home its ill-gotten spoils, and yet the air 
filled with new hosts of thoughtless comers.’! 
If, however, bees are to be credited with any moral 
feelings at all, I fear the experience of all bee-keepers 
shows that they have no conscientious scruples about 
robbing their weaker brethren. ‘If the bees of a strong 
stock,’ says Langstroth, ‘once get a taste of forbidden 
1 Hive- and Honey-Bee, Langstroth, p. 277. 
