54 CHAPMAN’S HANDY-BOOK. 
well if their natural supply is far off, to set pans of watei 
near the hives, filled to the level of the water with stones 
or moss, lest the bees should fall in when they alight to 
drink. A very convenient means of supplying them is to 
have a small wooden trough, with a piece of wood floating 
on the top of the water, not getting light, but so that it 
will always sink to the water level; the bees will perch on 
this board, and drink their fill from between it and the 
sides of the trough. I was led to think that bees are 
fond of salt water, and I placed near my apiary one trough 
of fresh and one of salt water: for one bee that went to 
the fresh water there were twenty at the salt lick. But 
they seem to be very capricious in their tastes. 
Bees’ Enemies. 
These to the poor bee are common both to England and 
New Zealand. With them the bees, and the bee master, 
have to fight in both lands. The most deadly are the 
spiders. But there is another foe peculiar to New Zealand 
of a very nasty nature : I mean that stinking beetle, whose 
real name is helcereru. When a hive dwindles away to 
nothing, and the bee master turns it up to see what is the 
cause and extent of the damage, he will often find a number 
of these black rascals in possession of the empty combs. 
If you find them, take the law into your own hands. Fowls 
should be kept away from the apiary; they are very 
destructive. The large species of dragon flies catch a 
great many. There are many of the New Zealand birds 
which, I doubt not, seize the bees in their flight. The 
korimoko I have taken in the fact; and I strongly suspect 
the tin, and other honey eating birds. 
The Bees’ Sting. 
A bee sting is the same all over the world : the pain is 
sharp for a minute or two; and it is not pleasant to have 
an eye entirely closed, or a nose twice as large as nature 
intended it. As the sting of the bee is the same here as 
it was in England, I can have nothing new to say on the 
subject. I do not think, however, that the bees are near 
