74 LETTERS ON ENTOMOLOGY. 
sallied forth by myriads, and attacking men and 
beasts indiscriminately, put them all to the rout. 
One horse and six asses were killed or missing 
in consequence of their attack ; and for half an 
hour the bees seemed to have completely put an 
end to their journey. Lesser tells us that in 
1525, in a time of war, a mob of peasants at- 
tempted to pillage the house of the minister of 
Elinde, who having in vain employed all his 
eloquence to dissuade them, ordered his servants 
to throw his beehives among them ; and it had 
the desired effect, for they were immediately put 
to flight. 
Great battles sometimes take place between 
two swarms, when one takes a fancy to a hive 
pre-occupied by another; but frequently strangers 
are not received so inhospitably. Eees from a 
hive in Mr. Knight's garden visited those of a 
cottager a hundred yards distant, considerably 
later than their time of labour ; every bee ap- 
pearing to be questioned as it arrived. On the 
tenth morning, however, the intercourse ceased, 
ending in a furious battle. On another occasion 
an intimacy took place between two hives of his 
own, which ended on the fifth day; but he 
sometimes observed that these visits ended in 
the union of two swarms. 
