owner tempts them with liquid food, especially at times when they can
obtain nothing from the blossoms, they seem to be so infatuated with
such easy gatherings, as to lose all discretion, and they will perish by
thousands, if the vessels which contain the food are not furnished with
floats, on which they can stand and help themselves in safety.

The fly was intended to feed, not upon the blossoms, but upon food in
which, without care, it could easily be drowned; and hence it alights
most cautiously, on the edge of any vessel containing liquid food, and
warily helps itself: while the poor bee, without any caution, plunges
right in and speedily perishes. The sad fate of their unfortunate
companions, does not in the least, deter others who approach the
tempting lure: but they madly alight on the bodies of the dying and the
dead, to share the same miserable end! No one can understand the full
extent of their infatuation, until after seeing a confectioner's shop,
assailed by thousands and tens of thousands of hungry bees. I have seen
thousands strained out from the syrups in which they had perished;
thousands more alighting even upon the boiling sweets; the floors
covered, and windows darkened with bees, some crawling, others flying,
and others still, so completely daubed as to be able neither to crawl
nor fly; not one bee in ten able to carry home its ill-gotten spoils,
and yet the air filled with new hosts of thoughtless comers.

It will be for the interest of all engaged in the manufacture of candy
and syrups, to fit gauze wire windows and doors to their premises, and
thus save themselves from constant loss and annoyance: for if only one
bee in a hundred escapes with his load, the confectioner will be
subjected in the course of the season to serious loss. I once furnished
such an establishment, after the bees had commenced their depredations,
with such protection; and when they found themselves excluded, they lit
on the wire by thousands, and fairly squealed with vexation and
disappointment, as they tried to force a passage through the meshes. At
last as they were daring enough to descend the chimney, reeking with
sweet odors, even although the most who attempted it, fell with scorched
wings into the fire, it became necessary to put wire gauze over the top
of the chimney also!

How often, as I have seen thousands of bees, in such places destroyed,
and thousands more deprived of all ability to fly, and hopelessly
strugg