CHAP. 22. (20.)—How TO KEEP BEES TO THE HIVE.
The clapping of the hands and the tinkling of brass afford
bees great delight, and it is by these means that they are
brought together; a strong proof, in fact, that they are possessed of the sense of hearing. When their work is completed, their offspring brought forth, and all their duties fulfilled, they still have certain formal exercises to perform, ranging
abroad throughout the country, and soaring aloft in the air,
wheeling round and round as they fly, and then, when the
hour for taking their food has come, returning home. The
extreme period of their life, supposing that they escape accident and the attacks of their enemies, is only seven years;
a hive, it is said, never lasts more than ten. [Note] There are some
persons, who think that, when dead, if they are preserved
in the house throughout the winter, and then exposed to the
warmth of the spring sun, and kept hot all day in the ashes
of fig-tree wood, they will come to life again.