The natural history of insects. First series.

Date:
1833
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The natural history of insects. First series. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    his people, having disturbed a colony of these ani- mals, were so furiously attacked, that both man and beast were put to instant flight. The list of the killed and missing amounted to one horse and six asses—a serious loss to a white man in the midst of inhospitable deserts. Lesser tells us, that in 1525, during the confusion occasioned by a time of war, a mob of peasants, as- sembling in Hoherstein, attempted to pillage the house of the minister of Elende, who having in vain employed all his eloquence to dissuade them from their design, ordered his domestics to fetch his bee- hives, and throw them into the middle of the infu- riated multitude. The effect answered his expecta- tions : they were immediately put to flight, and happy were those who escaped unstnng. It sometimes happens that a young swarm choose to enter a hive already occupied; when a most des- perate conflict ensues, which will last for hours, and even for days, and the space around will be found covered with the slain. These desperate conflicts not only take place between strangers, but also be- tween inhabitants of the same hive—offspring of the same mother. The causes which bring division into so united a society have not been hitherto as- certained. On those fine spring days in which the sun is beautiful and warm, duels may often be seen to take place between two inhabitants of the same hive. In some cases, the quarrel appears to have begun within, and the combatants may be seen com- ing out of the gates eager “ for blows.” Sometimes abee peaceably settled on the outside of the hive, or walking about, is rudely jostled by another, and then the attack commences, each endeavouring to obtain the most advantageous position. They turn, pirouette, throttle each other; and such is their bit- ter earnestness, that Reaumur has been enabled to come near enough to observe them with a lens with-