The Bee's Tongue 37 



crisp masses of bloom in a marvellous manner, did not win 

 the favor of the bees, fortunately for those of us who love 

 honey and do not care to be poisoned. For the honey of 

 the laurel is said not to be good for man. 



The honey-bees ignored it entirely, and only an occa- 

 sional bumble-bee or fly was to be seen paying homage to 

 its opulence — always excepting the yellow papilio butterfly 

 with black bands on its wings. 



These brilliant creatures fluttered by the score about the 

 laurels, helping them hold jubilee, and adding their winged 

 beauty to the grace of the floral outburst. 



Perhaps in a season when otlier nectar was scarce, the 

 bees would have turned to the laurel as a last resource, 

 though honey-bees in captivity preferred starvation to laurel 

 nectar. 



Bumble-bees were less fastidious, and did not disdain to 

 gather honey from every one of a large bunch of laurel 

 flowers placed near their window. 



Wild roses, however seductive in color and fragrance, do 

 not attract bees as do many other less showy flowers ; per- 

 haps the bees remember, from ancestral experience, that 

 the roses have no honey, only pollen to offer their guests. 



All know how fond bees are of linden or lime tree blos- 

 soms, the trees when in bloom sounding like a vast bee-hive 

 from the countless honey-gatherers busy in their midst, 

 though the greenish flowers are so inconspicuous that many 

 a one would fail to discover that the tree was in bloom 

 were it not advertised so loudly by its loving friends. 



From remotest ages the lime has been noted as a tree 

 beloved by bees, and Virgil does not fail to tell us that 

 the limes of his old Corycian bee-master were the first to 

 bloom. 



A little time spent in watching the bees in summer is a 

 good tonic for the mind, and also a valuable corrective. 



