Curious Facts in the History of Insects; Including Spiders and Scorpions Part 18

To cure the stings of Bees, we have the following remedies: "Rue," says Pliny, "is an hearbe as medicinable as the best ... and is available against the stings of Bees, Hornets, and Wasps, and against the poison of the Cantharides and Salamanders.[661]

"Yea, and it is an excellent thing for them that be stung, to take the very Bees in drinke; for it is an approved cure.[662]

"Baulme is a most present remedy not only against their stings, but also of Wespes, Spiders, and Scorpions.[663]

"The Laurell, both leafe, barke, and berrie, is by nature hot; and applied as a liniment, be singular good for the p.r.i.c.ke or sting of Wasps, Hornets, and Bees.[664]

"For the sting of Bees, Wasps, and Hornets, the Howlat (owlet) is counted a soveraigne thing, by a certaine antipathie in nature.[665]

"Moreover, as many as have about them the bill of a Woodspeck (Woodp.e.c.k.e.r) when they come to take honey out of the hive, shall not be stung by Bees."[666]

It is said that if a man suffers himself to be stung by Bees, he will find that the poison will produce less and less effect upon his system, till, finally, like Mithridates of old, he will appear to almost thrive upon poison itself. When Langstroth first became interested in Bees, according to his statement, a sting was quite a formidable thing, the pain being often intense, and the wound swelling so as sometimes to obstruct his sight. But, at length, however, the pain was usually slight, and, if the sting was quickly extracted, no unpleasant consequences ensued, even if no remedies were used. Huish speaks of seeing the bald head of Bonner, a celebrated practical Apiarian, covered with stings, which seemed to produce upon him no unpleasant effects. The Rev. Mr. Kleine advises beginners to suffer themselves to be stung frequently, a.s.suring them that, in two seasons, their systems will become accustomed to the poison. An old English Apiarian advises a person who has been stung, to catch as speedily as possible another Bee, and make it sting on the same spot.[667]

It is generally believed among our boys that if the part stung by a Bee be rubbed with the leaves of three different plants at the same time, the pain will be relieved.

Willsford, in his Nature's Secrets, p. 134, says: "Bees, in fair weather, not wandering far from their hives, presage the approach of some stormy weather.... Wasps, Hornets, and Gnats, biting more eagerly than they used to do, is a sign of rainy weather."[668]

The prognostication drawn from a flight of Bees, in which there is doubtless much truth, appears from the following lines to have been known to Virgil:

Nor dare they stay, When rain is promised, or a stormy day: But near the city walls their watering take, Nor forage far, but short excursions make.[669]

Bees were employed as the symbol of Epeses; they are common also on coins of Elyrus, Julis, and Praesus.[670]

One of the most remarkable facts in the history of Bees is that pa.s.sage in the Bible[671] about the swarm of these insects and honey in the carca.s.s of the lion slain by Samson. Some look upon it as a paradox, others as altogether incredible; but it admits of easy explanation. The lion had been dead some little time before the Bees had taken up their abode in the carca.s.s, for it is expressly stated that "after a time,"

Samson returned and saw the Bees and honey in the carca.s.s, so that "if,"

as Oedman has well observed, "any one here represents to himself a corrupt and putrid carca.s.s, the occurrence ceases to have any true similitude, for it is well known in these countries, at certain seasons of the year, the heat will in twenty-four hours so completely dry up the moisture of dead animals, and that without their undergoing decomposition, that their bodies long remain, like mummies, unaltered, and entirely free from offensive odor." To the foregoing quotation we may add that very probably the larvae of flies, ants, and other insects, which at the time when Bees swarm, are to be found in great numbers, would help to consume the carca.s.s, and leave perhaps in a short time little else than a skeleton.[672]

An instance of Bees tenanting a dead body is found in the following pa.s.sage from the writings of Herodotus: "Now the Amathusians, having cut off the head of Onesilus, because he had besieged them, took it to Amatheus, and suspended it over the gates; and when the head was suspended, and had become hollow, a swarm of Bees entered it, and filled it with honey-comb. When this happened, the Amathusians consulted the oracle respecting it, and an answer was given them, 'that they should take down the head and bury it, and sacrifice annually to Onesilus, as to a hero; and if they did so, it would turn out better for them.' The Amathusians did accordingly, and continued to do so until my time."[673]

Another singular instance is mentioned by Napier in his Excursions on the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean: "Among this pretty collection of natural curiosities (in the cemetery of Algesiras), one in particular attracted our attention; this was the contents of a small uncovered coffin in which lay a child, the cavity of the chest exposed and tenanted by an industrious colony of Bees. The comb was rapidly progressing, and I suppose, according to the adage of the poet, they were adding sweets to the sweet, if not perfume to the violet."[674]

Butler, in his Feminine Monarchie, narrates the following curious story: "_Paulus Jovius_ affirmeth that in _Muscovia_, there are found in the woods & wildernesses great lakes of honey, which the Bees have forsaken, in the hollow truncks of marvelous huge trees. In so much that hony & waxe are the most certaine commodities of that countrie. Where, by that occasion, he setteth down the storie reported by _Demetrius_ a _Muscovite_ amba.s.sador sent to Rome. A neighbor of mine (saith he) searching in the woods for hony slipt downe into a great hollow tree, and there sunk into a lake of hony vp to his brest: where when he had stucke faste two daies calling and crying out in vaine for helpe, because no bodie in the meane while came nigh that solitarie place; at length when he was out of all hope of life, hee was strangely delivered by the means of a great beare: which coming thither about the same businesse that he did, and smelling the hony stirred with his striving, clambered vp to the top of the tree, & thence began to let himselfe downe backward into it. The man bethinking himself, and knowing the worst was but death, which in that place he was sure of, beclipt the beare fast with both his hands aboit the loines, and withall made an outcry as lowd as he could. The beare being thus sodainely affrighted, what with the handling, & what with the noise, made vp againe withal speed possible: the man held, & the beare pulled, vntil with main force he had drawne _Dun out of the mire_: & then being let go, away he trots _more afeard than hurt_, leaving the smeered swaine in a joyful feare."[675]

By the Chinese writers, the composition of the characters for the Bee, Ant, and Mosquito, respectively, denote the awl insect, the _righteous_ insect, and the _lettered_ insect; referring thereby to the sting of the first, the orderly marching and subordination of the second, and the letter-like markings on the wings of the last.[676]

In May, 1653, the remains of Childeric, King of the Franks, who died A.D. 481, and was buried at Tournay, were discovered; and among the medals, coins, and books, which were found in his tomb, were also found above three hundred figures of, as Chiflet says, Bees, all of gold. Some of these figures were toads, crescents, lilies, spear-heads, and such like, but Chiflet, after much labor and research, was fully convinced they were Bees; and, more than that, determines them to be the source whence the _Fleur de lis_ in the Arms of France were afterward derived.

Montfaucon, however, did not hesitate to say they were nothing more than ornaments of the horse-furniture.[677]

Napoleon I. and II. are said to have had their imperial robes embroidered with golden Bees, as claiming official descent from Carolus Magnus, who is said to have worn them on his coat of arms.[678]

On a Continental forty-five dollar bill, issued on the 14th of January, 1779, is represented an Apiary in which two Beehives are visible, and Bees are seen swarming about. The motto is "Sic floret Respublica--Thus flourishes the Republic." It conveys the simple lesson that by industry and frugality the Republic would prosper.[679]

Bees in the heroic ages it appears were not confined in hives; for, whenever Homer describes them, it is either where they are streaming forth from a rock,[680] or settling in bands and cl.u.s.ters on the spring flowers. Hesiod, however, soon after makes mention of a hive where he is uncourteously comparing women to drones:

As when within their well-roof'd hives the Bees Maintain the mischief-working drones at ease, Their task pursuing till the golden sun Down to the western wave his course hath run, Filling their shining combs, while snug within Their fragrant cells, the drones, with idle din As princes revel o'er their unpaid bowls, On others' labors cheer their worthless souls.[681]

It may be surprising to many to know that Bees were not originally natives of this country. But such is the case; the first planters never saw any. The English first introduced them into Boston, and in 1670, they were carried over the Alleghany Mountains by a hurricane.[682]

Since that time, it has been remarked they betray an invariable tendency for migrating southward.[683]

Bees for a long time were known to our Indians by the name of "English Flies;"[684] and they consider them, says Irving, as the harbinger of the white man, as the buffalo is of the red man, and say that in proportion as the Bee advances, the Indian and the buffalo retire.[685]

Longfellow, in his Song of Hiawatha, in describing the advent of the European to the New World, makes his Indian warrior say of the Bee and the white clover:

Wheresoe'er they move, before them Swarms the stinging fly, the Ahmo, Swarms the Bee, the honey-maker; Wheresoe'er they tread, beneath them Springs a flower unknown among us, Springs the White Man's Foot in blossom.

Many Apiarians contend that newly-settled countries are most favorable to the Bee; and an old German adage runs thus:

Bells' ding dong, And choral song, Deter the bee From industry:

But hoot of owl, And "wolf's long howl"

Incite to moil And steady toil.[686]

Hector St. John, in his Letters, gives the following curious account of the method which he employed in discovering Bees in our woods in early times: Provided with a blanket, some provisions, wax, vermilion, honey, and a small pocket compa.s.s, he proceeded to such woods as were at a considerable distance from the settlements. Then examining if they abounded with large trees, he kindled a small fire on some flat stones, close by which putting some wax, and, on another stone near by, dropping distinct drops of honey, which he encircled with the vermilion. He then retired to carefully watch if any Bees appeared. The smell of the burnt wax, if there were any Bees in the neighborhood, would unavoidably attract them; and, finding the honey, would necessarily become tinged with the vermilion, in attempting to get at it. Next, fixing his compa.s.s, he found out the direction of the hives by the flight of the loaded Bees, which is invariably straight when they are returning home.

Then timing with his watch the absence of the Bee till it would come back for a second load, and recognizing it by the vermilion, he could generally guess pretty closely to the distance traversed by it in the given time. Knowing then the direction and the probable distance, he seldom failed in going directly to the right tree. In this way he sometimes found as many as eleven swarms in one season.[687]

The shepherds of the Alps, as we learn from Sausure quoted in the Insect Miscellanies, as soon as the snows are melted on the sides of the mountains, transfer their flocks from the valleys below to the fresh pasture revived by the summer sun, in the natural parterres and patches of meadow-land formed at the foot of crumbling rocks, and sheltered by them from mountain storms; and so difficult sometimes is this transfer to be accomplished, that the sheep have to be slung by means of ropes from one cliff to another before they can be stationed on the little gra.s.s-plot above.[688] A similar artificial migration (if we may use the term), continues the author of the Miscellanies, is effected in some countries by the proprietors of Beehives, who remove them from one district to another, that they may find abundance of flowers, and by this means prolong the summer. Sometimes this transfer is performed by persons forming an ambulatory establishment, like that of a gipsy horde, and encamping wherever flowers are found plentiful. Bee-caravans of this kind are reported to be not uncommon in some districts of Germany;[689]

and in parts of Greece,[690] Italy, and France,[691] the transportation of Bees was practiced from very early times. But a more singular practice in such transportation was to set the Beehives afloat in a ca.n.a.l or river, and we are informed that, in France, one Bee-barge was built of capacity enough for from sixty to one hundred hives, and by floating gently down the river, the Bees had an opportunity of gathering honey from the flowers along the banks.[692]

An instance of Bees being kept in this singular manner is found in the following quotation from the London Times, 1830: "As a small vessel was proceeding up the Channel from the coast of Cornwall, and running near the land, some of the sailors observed a swarm of Bees on an island; they steered for it, landed, and took the Bees on board; succeeded in hiving them immediately, and proceeded on their voyage; as they sailed along sh.o.r.e, the Bees constantly flew from the vessel to the land, to collect honey, and returned again to their moving hive; and this was continued all the way up the Channel."[693]

In Lower Egypt, observes M. Maillet in his Description of Egypt, where the blossoming of flowers is about six weeks later than in the upper districts, the practice of transporting Beehives is much followed. The hives are collected from different villages along the banks, each being marked and numbered by individual proprietors, to prevent future mistakes. They are then arranged in pyramidal piles upon the boats prepared to receive them, which, floating gradually down the river, and stopping at certain stages of their pa.s.sage, remain there a longer or a shorter time, according to the produce afforded by the surrounding country within two or three leagues. In this manner the Bee-boats sail for three months; the Bees, having culled the honey of the orange-flowers in the Said, and of the Arabian jasmine and other flowers in the more northern parts, are brought back to the places whence they had been carried. This procures for the Egyptians delicious honey and abundance of wax. The proprietors in return pay the boatmen a recompense proportioned to the number of hives which have been thus carried about from one extremity of Egypt to the other.[694] The celebrated traveler Niebuhr saw upon the Nile, between Cairo and Damietta, a convoy of 4000 hives in their transit from Upper Egypt to the coast of the Delta.[695]

In the Bienenzeitung for 1854, p. 83, appears the following statements: "Mr. Kaden, of Mayence, thinks that the range of the Bee's flight does not usually extend more than three miles in all directions. Several years ago, a vessel, laden with sugar, anch.o.r.ed off Mayence, and was soon visited by the Bees of the neighborhood, which continued to pa.s.s to and from the vessel from dawn to dark. One morning, when the Bees were in full flight, the vessel sailed up the river. For a short time, the Bees continued to fly as numerously as before; but gradually the number diminished, and, in course of half an hour, all had ceased to follow the vessel, which had, meanwhile, sailed more than four miles."[696]

Aristomachus of Soli, says Pliny, made Bees his exclusive study for a period of fifty-eight years; and Philiocus, the Thracian, surnamed Agrius--"Wildman"--pa.s.sed his life in desert spots tending swarms of Bees.[697]

Schomburgk says he saw, in his journey to the sources of the Takutu, an Indian, who was the conjuror or piaiman of his tribe, merely approach a nest of the wild Wampang-bees (_Wampisiana camniba_), and knocking with his fingers against it, drive out all the Bees without a single one injuring him. The piaiman, Schomburgk remarks, drew his fingers under the pits of his arms before he knocked against the hive.[698]

Brue, in his first voyage to Siratic, in Africa, met with what he called a "phenomenon" in a person ent.i.tling himself the "King of the Bees." His majesty accordingly came to the boat of the traveler entirely covered with these insects, and followed by thousands, over which he appeared to exercise the most absolute authority. These Bees were never known to injure either himself or those whom he took under his protection.[699]

Mr. Wildman, the most celebrated Bee-tamer, frequently a.s.serted that armed with his friendly Bees he was defensible against the fiercest mastiffs; and, it is said, he actually did, at Salisbury, encounter three yard-dogs one after the other. The conditions of the engagement were, that he should have notice of the dog being set at him.

Accordingly the first mastiff was set loose; and as he approached the man, two Bees were detached, which immediately stung him, the one on the nose, the other on the flank; upon receiving the wounds, the dog retired very much daunted. After this, the second dog entered the lists, and was foiled with the same expedition as the first. The third dog was at last brought against the champion, but the animal observing the ill success of his brethren, would not attempt to sustain a combat; so, in a cowardly manner, he retired with his tail between his legs.

Many other remarkable anecdotes are told of this gentleman, ill.u.s.trating his wonderful control over Bees. He could also, indeed, tame wasps and hornets, with almost the same ease as he could Bees, and an instance is mentioned of his hiving a nest of hornets which hung at the top of the inside of a high barn. He, however, was stung twice in this undertaking.

Mr. Wildman frequently exhibited himself with his head and face almost covered with Bees, and with such a swarm of them hanging down from his chin as to resemble a venerable beard. In this extraordinary dress he was once brought through the City of London sitting in a chair. Before Earl Spencer, Mr. Wildman also made many wonderful performances.[700]

Says Dr. Evans:

Such was the spell, which round a Wildman's arm Twined in dark wreaths the fascinated swarm, Bright o'er his breast the glittering legions led, Or with a living garland bound his head.

His dexterous hand, with firm but hurtless hold, Could seize the chief, known by her scales of gold, Prune, 'mid the wondering throng, her filmy wing, Or o'er her folds the silken fetter fling.[701]

"Long experience has taught me," says Mr. Wildman himself, "that as soon as I turn up a hive, and give some taps on the sides and bottom, the queen immediately appears. Being accustomed to see her, I readily perceive her at the first glance; and long practice has enabled me to seize her instantly, with a tenderness that does not in the least endanger her person. Being possessed of her, I can, without exciting any resentment, slip her into my other hand, and returning the hive to its place, hold her, till the Bees, missing her, are all on the wing and in the utmost confusion." It was then, by placing the queen in view, he could make them light wherever he pleased, from their great attachment to her, and sometimes using a word of command to mystify the spectators, he would cause them to settle on his head, and to hang to his chin like a beard, from which he would order them to his hand, or to an adjacent window. But, however easy such feats may appear in theory, Mr. Wildman cautions (probably with a view to deter rivals) those who are inexperienced not to put themselves in danger of attempting to imitate him. A liberated Roman slave, C. F. Cnesinus, being accused before the tribunals of witchcraft, because his crops were more abundant than those of his neighbors, produced as his witnesses some superior implements of husbandry, and well fed oxen, and pointing to them said: "These, Romans! are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my toil, my perseverance, and my anxious cares." "So," says Wildman, "may I say, These, Britons! are my instruments of witchcraft; but I cannot show you my hours of attention to this subject, my anxiety and care for these useful insects; nor can I communicate to you my experience acquired during a course of years."[702]

Butler mentions two instances where the stings of Bees have been fatal to "cattaile":

"A horse," he informs us, "in the heate of the day looking over a hedge, on the other side whereof was a staule of Bees, while hee stood nodding with his head, as his manner is, because of the flies, the Bees fell vpon him and killed him. Likewise I heard of a teeme that stretching against a hedge overthrew a staule on the other side, and so two of the horses were stung to death."[703]