Footnote 1218: Sibthorpe in Walp. Mem. i. 75. The practice, moreover, of stealing hives was not unknown to the ancients. Plat. De Legg. t. viii. p. 104. ----- There were, in ancient times, two entrances, one on either hand, and on the top a lid, which the Melitturgos could remove when he desired to take the honey, or inspect the condition of the bees. The best of these lids were made of bark, the worst of earthenware, which were cold in winter, and in summer exceedingly hot.[1219] It was considered necessary during spring and the succeeding season for the bee-keeper to inspect the hives thrice a month, to fumigate them slightly, and remove all filth and vermin. He was careful, likewise, to destroy the usurpers if there were more than one queen,[1220] since, in Varro’s[1221] opinion, they gave rise to sedition; but Aristotle thinks there ought to be several, lest one should die, and the hive along with it. Of the queen bees there are three kinds, the black, the ruddy, and the variegated; though Menecrates, who is good authority, speaks only of the black and variegated.[1222] Aristotle, however, describes the reddish queen bee as the best. Even among the working insects there are two kinds, the smaller, in form round, and variegated in colour, the larger, which is the tame bee, less active and beautiful. The former, or wild bee,[1223] frequents the mountains, forests, and other solitary places, labours indefatigably, and collects honey in great quantities; the latter, which feeds among gardens, and in man’s neighbourhood, fills its hive more slowly.[1224] With respect to the drones, or males, which the working bees generally expel at a certain time of the year, the Attic melitturgi got rid of them in a very ingenious manner. It was observed, that these gentlemen though no way inclined to work, would yet occasionally, on very fine days, go abroad for exercise, rushing forth in squadrons, mounting aloft into the air, and there wheeling, and sporting, and manœuvring in the sun.[1225] Taking advantage of their absence, they spread a fine net over the hive-entrance, the meshes of which, large enough to admit the bee, would exclude the drone. On returning, therefore, they found themselves, according to the old saying, “on the smooth side of the door,” and were compelled to seek fresh lodgings.[1226] ----- Footnote 1219: Colum. ix. 6. Della Rocca, however, considers this kind as equal to any other, except that it is more fragile. t. ii. p. 17. Footnote 1220: Geop. xv. 2. 15. Footnote 1221: De Re Rust. iii. 16, 18. Colum. ix. 9. 6. Hist. Anim. v. 19, 22. Xenoph. Œconom. vii. 32. Footnote 1222: Cf. Geop. xv. 2, 6. Footnote 1223: On the humble bee, see Sch. Aristoph. Acharn. 831. Footnote 1224: Varro, De Re Rust. iii. 16. Footnote 1225: Arist. Hist. Anim. ix. 27. Footnote 1226: Arist. Hist. Anim. v. 21. Cf. Xenoph. Œcon. xvii. 14, seq. -----