128 FOOD OF BEES. 
Sat. 
274. Bees seem to be so fond of salt, that they will 
alight upon our hands to lick up the saline perspiration. 
* During the early part of the breeding season,’’ said Dr. Bevan, 
“till the beginning of May, I keep a constant supply of salt and 
water near my Apiary, and find it thronged with bees from early 
morn till late in the evening. About this period the quantity 
they consume is considerab*e, but afterwards they seem indiffer- 
ent toit. The eagerness they evince for it at one period of the 
season, and their indifference at another, may account for the 
opposite opinions entertained respecting it.” 
