374 
BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 
a confirmation, and, audaciously entering the church 
window, clustered on an ornament not far from the 
pulpit; but, to fill up the measure of their transgressions, 
one reckless bee from this cluster committed the sad 
indiscretion of stinging a bishop, and so brought well- 
deserved banishment on her whole tribe. Not long 
after, ladders were raised, and the Author, unaccustomed 
as he is to elevated positions, was peering down between 
the slates as the saucy insects were travelling in and 
out through four or five openings. The master builder 
in attendance came to receive directions, but a gust of 
wind, common at such altitudes, nearly carried away 
his hat. His rapid movements in preventing this 
catastrophe produced a worse, for five or six bees, 
possibly expecting retribution, regarded his quickness 
as a menace, and 'took aim at his uncovered scalp, 
when he retired discomfited. A practical breach was 
soon made, and pailful after pailful of honeycomb, which 
at length fairly filled a large saucer-bath, was the first 
instalment of the booty. The brood-combs followed, 
but, as before, the bees retired, and had to be gained 
by the expedient previously explained. After the final 
removal of the bees the following morning, the hollow 
in which this colony had existed for several years was 
filled with coke saturated with carbolic acid. This 
last substance is so excessively nauseous to the genus 
Apis that no fresh swarm would be likely to choose 
this spot as a dwelling-place. The other families, now 
the way had been shown, fared no better than the 
first ; for a volunteer, clad in armour, attacked, defeated, 
and captured another detachment, without receiving 
damage, at a point where more climbing ability than I 
