3 ^ /^-^s^ 
Chap. 20.] THE DISEASES OE BEES. 21 
and make no honey, being thus castrated, so to say, and 
equally incapable of inflicting injury, and of making themselves 
useful by their labours. We have instances stated of horses 
being killed by bees. 
They have a great aversion to bad smells, and fly away 
from them ; a dislike which extends to artificial perfumes 
even. Hence it is that they will attack persons who smell 
of unguents. They themselves, also, are exposed to the 
attacks of wasps and hornets, w^hich belong to the same class, 
but are of a degenerated^ nature ; these wage continual warfare 
against them, as also does a species of gnat, which is known 
by the name of mulio ;"dd swallows, too, and various other 
birds prey upon them. Frogs lie in wait for them when in 
quest of water, which, in fact, is their principal occupation 
at the time they are rearing their young. And it is not only 
the frog that frequents ponds and streams that is thus injuri- 
ous to them, but the bramble-frog as well, which will come 
to the hives even in search of them, and, crawling up to the 
entrance, breathe through the apertures ; upon hearing which, a 
bee flies to the spot, and is snapped up in an instant. It is 
generally stated that frogs are proof against the sting of the 
bee. Sheep, too, are peculiarly dangerous to them, as they 
have the greatest difficulty in extricating themselves from 
the fleece. The smell of crabs,^^ if they happen to be cooked in 
their vicinity, is fatal to them. 
CHAP. 20. THE DISEASES OF BEES. 
Bees are also by nature liable to certain diseases of their 
own. The sign that they are diseased, is a kind of torpid, 
moping sadness : on such occasions, they are to be seen bring- 
ing out those that are sick before the hives, and placing them ' 
in the warm sun, while others, again, are providing them with 
food. Those that are dead they carry away from the hive, 
and attend the bodies, paying their last duties, as it were, in 
funeral procession. If the king should happen to be carried 
off" by the pestilence, the swarm remains plunged in grief and 
listless inactivity \ it collects no more food, and ceases to issue 
^ Though belonging to the same class, they are not of degenerate kinds. 
The mule-gnat." 
«7 See Virgil, Georg. B. iv. 1. 27. 
