170 



PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



assemble round the hives and devour them like grains of corn. 1 

 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. 2 



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 

 fireside, in a torpid state, seldom leaving the chimney-corner; 

 but in summer he was all alert and in quest of his game. 

 Hive-bees, humble-bees, and wasps were his prey, wherever he 

 found them. He had no apprehension from their stings, but 

 would seize them with naked hands, and at once disarm them 

 of their weapons, and suck their bodies for the sake of their 

 honey-bags. Sometimes he would fill his bosom between his 

 shirt and skin with these animals ; and sometimes he en- 

 deavoured to confine them in bottles. He was very injurious 

 to men that kept bees ; for he would glide into their bee- 

 gardens, and sitting down before the stools, would rap with 

 his fingers, and so take the bees as they came out. He has 

 even been known to overturn the hives for the sake of the 

 honey, of which he was passionately fond. Where metheglin 

 was making, he would linger round the tubs and vessels, 

 begging a draught of what he called bee-wine. As he ran 

 about, he used to make a humming noise with his lips resem- 

 bling the buzzing of bees. This lad was lean and sallow, and 

 of a cadaverous complexion ; and except in his favourite pur- 

 suit, in which he was wonderfully adroit, discovered no manner 

 of understanding. Had his capacity been better, and directed 

 to the same object, he had perhaps abated much of our wonder 

 at the feats of a more modern exhibitor of bees ; and we may 

 justly say of him now, 



" Thou, 



Had thy presiding star propitious shone, 

 Shouldst Wildman be." 3 



The worker bees are annual insects, though the queen will 

 sometimes live more than two years ; but, as every swarm 



l Reaum. v. 710. 2 Thorley, 171. 3 White's Nat. Hist. 8vo. i. 339. 



