3746 Insects. 



On " Robber-bees : " the Phenomenon thus denominated attributed 

 to the Presence of the Honey-moth. By Octavius Pickard- 

 Cambridge, Esq. 



On the 15th of last September, our gardener came to me, in great 

 tribulation, to say that " the robbers" were attacking one of my bee- 

 hives. I immediately went to see the state of affairs, and found a 

 great commotion at the mouth of the hive, bees hurrying in and out, 

 crowding and tumbling over one another, some fighting, and a few, 

 dead, lying on the ground (this was a wooden box-hive) ; and on 

 drawing back the shutter of the window the same state of commotion 

 and excitement prevailed within. A very few minutes' observation 

 showed me that the cells were being opened, and the honey extracted; 

 and also that the young bees were being brought out of the hive, and 

 carried off. So my first operation was to stop the entrance entirely, 

 with a zinc slide ; and, this done, the bees now congregated in clus- 

 ters, trying every crevice and corner to effect an entrance ; (this was 

 about 5 p.m.) The commotion inside still continued ; and, wishing 

 to see what would become of the swarms of bees collected outside 

 the hive, I remained watching till it grew dusk, when they began to 

 fly away, mostly, as far as I could see, in one direction, until, by dark, 

 not one remained. I left the entrance still stopped by the slide ; and 

 by daylight next morning the bees began to return, making furious 

 efforts to get inside, tumbling and fighting as before ; and by 8 a.m. 

 the front of the hive was crowded as on the previous evening, the 

 bees inside seeming as anxious to get out as those outside to get in. 

 This state of things existed the whole day; and just before dark, 

 when the last of the bees outside had taken their departure, in the 

 same manner, and apparently in the same direction as before, I drew 

 back the zinc slide, which was no sooner removed than the inhabitants 

 poured out, as thick and fast as the aperture (two inches wide) would 

 admit, and flew straight away, in exactly the same direction as all 

 those outside had previously taken. Not knowing what to make of 

 this, and while they were still pouring out, I again inserted the slide, 

 and left them for the night. 



The next morning, by daylight, the same scene of riot and confu- 

 sion was enacted, and continued throughout the day, the bees outside 

 all departing, just before dusk, as on the previous evening; and on 

 my again pulling out the slide (which had been in the whole day), 

 immediately the bees issued out again, flying off as before, until quite 

 dark, when I re-inserted the slide. 



