Insects. 3747 



Having in the mean time consulted all the parish authorities on bee- 

 keeping, their opinion (the prevalent one here) was, that the hive was 

 attacked by strange bees, or " robbers," who would continue to return 

 and renew their attacks as long as the hive remained in its place with a 

 bit of honey in it ; and that probably the bees that left the hive every 

 night on my withdrawing the zinc slide from the entrance, were some 

 of the robbers who had got inside previous to my discovering the state 

 of the hive, on the 15th, and they, having been sorely ill-treated by 

 the lawful inhabitants, were glad to make their exit and escape on the 

 first opportunity. All this seemed plausible enough, especially as the 

 hive became quieter and quieter after each efflux, and, as far as I 

 could see through the windows, no more cells had been tapped ; but 

 the combs were full, and so far as perfect as at the end of the first 

 day's row; though, outside, the bees seemed more numerous, and as 

 eager to get in as ever. 



This explanation did not satisfy me, for on a close examination there 

 did not appear to be more than a hundred or two bees left in the hive; 

 so I resolved to put it to the test, by killing, the next morning, as they 

 arrived, every bee that came to renew the attack, all of which, accord- 

 ing to the popular opinion, were the " robbers," and which, being got 

 rid of, the usual work of the hive would of course proceed without 

 molestation. So the next morning, by day-break, I commenced the 

 slaughter, and in the course of a few hours had killed thousands, the 

 ground becoming black with the slain, and so continued to kill them 

 until they ceased coming. By this time the slain must have amounted 

 to nearly as many in number as is contained in an ordinary swarm. 

 However, the next day a few still came, and were also killed ; and I 

 determined that when evening came the hive should be fumigated with 

 fungus-smoke, and the state of the hive, and number of inhabitants, 

 ascertained. This being done, by inserting the nose of a pair of fumi- 

 gating bellows into the entrance of the hive, so as to preclude the 

 possibility of any bees escaping, and having removed the hive, 1 found 

 my conjectures correct, for there were not nearly 200 bees in it, and 

 no queen among them. As in this state of things it was useless to 

 restore it to its place, I killed these few bees ; and, with the excep- 

 tion of the bottoms of the combs being a good deal gnawed (the dust 

 and crumbs of which were strewed about the floor-board), I found 

 very little honey gone, and the combs apparently sound and good, the 

 hive, as it stood, weighing 40 lbs., of which the hive itself was 12 

 lbs. weight. 



Now, the question is, Where were all the lawful inhabitants of the 



