DISEASES OF BEES. 
255 
out of all hope of life, he was strangely delivered by the 
means of a great bear, which, coming thither about the 
same business that he did, and smelling the honey, stirred 
with his striving, clambered up to the top of the tree, and 
then began to lower himself down, backwards,, into it 
The man bethinking himself, and knowing that the worst 
was but death, which in that place he was sure of, beclipt 
the bear fast with both his hands about the loins, and, 
withal, made an outcry as loud as he could. The bear 
being thus suddenly affrighted, what with the handling 
and what with the noise, made up again with all speed 
possible. The man held, and the bear pulled, until, with 
main force, he had drawn him out of the mire; and then, 
being let go, away he trots, more afeard than hurt, 
leaving the smeared swain in a joyful fear.” 
Ants, in some places, are so destructive, that it becomes 
necessary to put the hives on stands, whose legs are set 
in water.* My limits forbid me to speak of wasps, 
hornets, millepedes (or wood-lice), spiders, and other 
enemies of bees. If the Apiarian keeps his stocks strong, 
they will usually be their own best protectors, and, unless 
they are guarded by thousands ready to die in their 
defence, they arc ever liable to fall a prey to some of 
their many enemies, who are all agreed on this one point, 
at least—that stolen honey is much sweeter than the 
slow accumulations of patient industry. 
DISEASES OF BEES. 
Bees are subject to but few diseases which deserve 
special notice. The fatal effects of dysentery have already 
been alluded to (p. 90). “The presence of this disorder,” 
says Bevan, “ is indicated by the appearance of the excre- 
• Small ants often make their nesta about hives, to have the benefit of their 
warmth, and neither molest the bcr« nor are molested by them. 
