8 
pliny's natubal histoey. 
[Book XI, 
never settle on a dead flower, much less a dead carcase. They 
pursue their labours within three- score paces of their hives ; 
and when the flowers in their vicinity are exhausted, they 
send out scouts from time to time, to discover places for forage 
at a greater distance. "When overtaken by night in their ex- 
peditions, they watch till the morning, lying on their backs, 
in order to protect their wings from the action of the dew. 
CHAP. 9. (9.) — PEKSONS WHO HAVE MADE EEES THEIR STUDY. 
It is not surprising that there have been persons who have 
made bees their exclusive study ; Aristomachus of Soli, for 
instance, who for a period of fifty- eight years did nothing else ; 
Phiiiscus of Thasos, also, surnamed Agrius,^^ who passed his 
life in desert spots, tending swarms of bees. Both of these 
have written works on this subject. 
CHAP. 10. (10.) THE MODE m WHICH BEES WOEK. 
The manner in which bees carry on their work is as follows. 
In the day time a guard is stationed at the entrance of the 
hive, like the sentries in a camp. At night they take their 
rest until the morning, when one of them awakes the rest with 
a humming noise, repeated twice or thrice, just as though it were 
sounding a trumpet. They then take their flight in a body, 
if the day is likely to turn out fine ; for they have the gift of 
foreknowing wind and rain, and in such case will keep close 
within their dwellings. On the other hand, when the weather is 
fine — and this, too, they have the power of foreknowing — the 
swarm issues forth, and at once applies itself to its work, some 
loading their legs from the flowers, while others fill their 
mouths with water, and charge the downy surface of their 
bodies with drops of liquid. Those among them that are 
young go forth to their labours, and collect the materials 
already mentioned, while those that are more aged stay within 
the hives and work. The bees whose business it is to carry 
the flowers, with their fore feet load their thighs, which Nature " 
has made rough for the purpose, and with their trunks load 
22 Or, the " wild man.'* 
23 Huber has discovered that there are two kinds of bees of neutral sex, 
or, as he calls them, unproHfic females, the workers, which go out, and 
the nurses, which are smaller, and stay in the hive to tend the larvae. 
