A correspondent of _The Bee Journal_ writes under the head of "Norfolk Bee-Superstition": "A neighbour of mine had bought a hive of bees at an auction of the goods of a farmer, who had recently died. The bees seemed very sickly, and not likely to thrive; when my neighbour's servant bethought him they had never been put in mourning for their late master. On this he got a piece of crape and tied it to a stick, which he fastened to a hive. After this the bees recovered; and when I saw them they were in a very flourishing state--a result which was unhesitatingly attributed to their having been put into mourning." It is more difficult to suggest the possible origin of these curious fancies than to explain those previously mentioned. We may, perhaps, be on the right track in supposing that it has often happened, when the master or mistress of the bees has been ill or has died, the insects have missed, especially in autumn or early spring, the attention required for their welfare, and have, in consequence, perished. Then other persons of the household, unacquainted with the actual connection--in many instances a _vital_ connection--between the bees and their owner, have attributed to them a bond not actually existing; and so, being led to the silly notion of the insects grieving, or needing to be informed, and to have their hive put in mourning, they have easily diffused a superstition in which each favouring coincidence would tell widely for its extended belief. In the Norfolk case, narrated in _The Bee Journal_, several possible explanations suggest themselves. In the first place, if the deceased farmer was an inhabitant of the same village as the buyer of his bees, and the hives were removed to a new home near their old one, most of the bees which had previously flown would return to their accustomed spot, and perish, not knowing their way to their changed abode. Then, in the course of a fortnight or three weeks, a good number of freshly-hatched insects would have strengthened the community, and these, naturally, would return with their supplies to the fresh domicile, and soon put matters into a flourishing condition. Again, if dull gloomy weather followed the purchase of the bees, and was succeeded by brighter days, coincidently with the fastening of the stick and crape to the hives, the improved appearances would, of course, be due to warmer temperature and sunnier hours, without any change in the feelings of the insects from their abode being duly adorned with the emblems of mourning. Lastly, the explanation may be simply that, when the stock was bought it was in poor condition, but that in two or three weeks, by the hatching of brood in the natural course of events, a greatly improved condition of affairs had come about. The first of these explanations, however, is probably the correct one.