286 WANT OF AFFECTION. 
sweets, they will seldom stop until they have tested the 
strength of every hive.’ And again, ‘Some bee- 
keepers question whether a bee that once learns to 
steal ever returns to honest courses.’ Siebold has men- 
tioned similar facts in the case of certain wasps (Polistes). 
Far, indeed, from having been able to discover any 
evidence of affection among them, they appear to be 
thoroughly callous and utterly indifferent to one 
another. As already mentioned, it was necessary for 
me occasionally to kill a bee; but I never found that 
the others took the slightest notice. Thus on October 
11 I crushed a bee close to one which was feeding—-in 
fact, so close that their wings touched; yet the sur- 
vivor took no notice whatever of the death of her 
sister, but went on feeding with every appearance of 
composure and enjoyment, just as if nothing had hap- 
pened. When the pressure was removed, she remained 
by the side of the corpse without the slightest appear- 
ance of apprehension, sorrow, or recognition. She evi- 
dently did not feel the slightest emotion at her 
sister’s death, nor did she show any alarm lest the 
same fate should befall her also. In a second case 
exactly the same occurred. Again, I have several 
times, while a bee has been feeding, held a second 
bee by the leg close to her; the prisoner, of course, 
struggled to escape, and buzzed as loudly as she could; 
yet the bee which was feeding took no notice whatever. 
So far, therefore, from being at all affectionate, I doubt 
whether bees are in the least fond of one another. 
