PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 209 
these I have already enumerated several of the class of in- 
sects, and also some beasts and birds that have a taste 
for bees and their produce*?. The Merops Apiaster 
(which has been taken in England), the lark and other 
birds catch them as they fly. Even the frog and the 
toad are said to kill great numbers of bees; and many 
’ that fall inte the water probably become the prey of fish. 
The mouse also, especially the field-mouse, in winter 
often commits great ravages in a hive, if the base and ori- 
fices are not well secured and stopped>. Thorley once 
lost a stock by mice, which made a nest and produced 
young amongst the combs‘*. ‘The titmouse, according 
to the same author, will make a noise at the door of the 
hive, and when a bee comes out to see what is the mat- 
ter, will seize and devour it. He has known them eat 
a dozen at atime. ‘The swallows will assemble round 
the hives and devour them like grains of corn’. I need 
only mention spiders, in whose webs they sometimes meet 
with their end, and earwigs and ants, which creep into 
the hive and steal the honey o 
Upon this subject of the enemies of bees, I cannot 
_ persuade myself to omit the account Mr. White has 
given of an idiot-boy, who from a child showed a strong 
propensity to bees. They were his food, his amusement, 
his sole object. In the winter he dozed away his time 
in his father’s house, by the fire-side, in a torpid state, 
seldom leaving the chimney-corner: but in summer he 
was all alert and in quest of his game. Hive-bees, hum- 
ble-bees, and wasps were his prey wherever he found 
them. He had no apprehension from their stings, but 
@ Vor. I. 4th Ed, 164, and 280. 288. b Schirach, 52. 
© 170. ¢ Reaum. y. 710. ¢ Thorley,.171]. 
VOL, II. ie 
