of their stores. This is generally done in September, by setting the hive, late in an evening, over lighted brimstone matches, placed in a hole dug in the earth; the soil being quickly drawn round the hive, as well to prevent the escape of any of the bees, as to confine the sulphurous gas. In about a quarter of an hour, if the hive receive a few smart strokes on its sides, the bees will be found to have dropped insensible into the hole, where they are immediately buried; otherwise they would revive, such of them at least as were not singed or otherwise injured by the fire. The heaviest and lightest hives are usually selected for the purpose, the former as yielding most profit, the latter as being unlikely to survive the winter.

If, after a hive of bees has been suffocated, the apiarian wish to search for the queen, the best mode of doing so is to lay the whole of the bees on white paper, or in water on a white shallow dish, and examine them singly; her colour upon the back is not so remarkably different from that of the workers as to be very striking; but on looking at the under part of her, she will be immediately recognised.

I adverted to this latter mode of robbing bees of their treasure in Chap. XIV. and there quoted the lamentation of Thomson at their fate. For

this humane appeal, he has been thus apostro

phized by Dr. Evans.

"And thou, sweet Thomson, tremblingly alive

To pity's call, hast mourn'd the slaughter'd hive,
Cursing, with honest zeal, the coward hand,

Which hid, in night's dark veil, the murd'rous brand,
In steam sulphureous wrapt the peaceful dome,
And bore the yellow spoil triumphant home."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE BEE-DRESS.

THE Storifying system, when conducted with proper precaution, in a bee-house, renders a beedress quite superfluous to the apiarian, as all his operations may be safely performed at all times and in all weathers, without one.

They may be as securely performed, by the storifier in a simple shed, if the time of operating be either early or late in the day, when the bees are all at home and can be confined by shutting the slide of the floor board.

Still, as timidity may foster a feeling of insecurity, and as the armour of a bee-dress may give confidence to an operator, I shall describe the dress that appears to me most suitable.

In the first place the apiator should be armed with a pair of thick cloth gloves, made to tie over the sleeves of his coat. Secondly, his legs should be fortified by a double pair of thick woollen or worsted stockings, or some kind of stout leggings as they are called. And thirdly, he should be provided with a short dress of Scotch gauze or catgut. This dress should be so formed as to tie round the crown of a hat having a shallow brim (about 2 inches deep), should have short sleeves

to tie round the arms, and descend low enough to tie round the body. A woollen apron should also be worn, as high as the bottom of the catgut dress, otherwise, in the language of Mr. Keys, the prying little insects may find an opening of sufficient size to enable them to tickle the belly. "Women," says Mr. K. "should not meddle with bees, without a bee-dress, nor then without the addition of a man's coat, and I had almost said of breeches also."

This dress is the most complete mode of securing an operator from bees or wasps; but if he be adventurous enough to brave their attacks, I recommend him first to drink or rince his mouth with a little malt liquor; to wash his face and hands with the same, and to approach them with a bunch of sweet herbs in his hand, gently fanning his face with them, whilst he is in the vicinity of their domicile, and breathing as much as possible through his nose. (Vide Part II. Bee's Sting.) In case of an actual or threatened attack, (the latter of which may be known by the peculiar noise which precedes it,) a defence by striking at them would be highly imprudent. An attempt may be first made to put them gently away; should that not succeed, the only resource is to retire quietly, and to conceal the face in shrubs or boughs, if any be near, or if not with the hands spread over it. The bees will then generally desist from further attack, and

go

home.

The smart quick strokes of the wings, when bees are angry and prepared to sting, give a sound very different from their usual buz. "Instead," says Mr. Hunter, "of that soft contented noise made by the bee when coming home loaded on a fine evening,-when a bee meditates an attack with its sting, it makes a very different one." There is a piercing shrillness in the sound, as the author and some of his friends have often experienced.

Messrs. Kirby and Spence, after quoting a passage from Mr. White's Natural History, relative to the feigned attacks of some wild bees near Lewes in Sussex, which "with a sharp and hostile sound dash and strike round the heads and faces of intruders," make the following observations. "The hive-bee will sometimes have recourse to the same expedient, when her hive is approached too near, and thus give you notice what you may expect, if you do not take her warning and retire.- Humble-bees when disturbed, whether out of the nest or in it, assume some very grotesque and at the same time threatening attitudes. If you put your finger to them, they will either successively or simultaneously the three legs of one side; turn themselves

lift up

upon

their back, bend up their anus and show their sting accompanied by a drop of poison. Sometimes they will even spirt out that liquor."