If a bee deliberates, it stings; if it loses presence of
mind, it stings; if it happens to think of it without any
provocation at all, it stings.
Their reputation in olden time was as bad as it is to-day,
and Virgil says of them, —

“They are wrathful above measure, and when provoked
breathe venom into their stings and leave their hidden
darts fixed in the veins and lay down their lives in the
wound.”

While Seneca feelingly remarks, —

“ Bees are the most angriest and fellest creatures that be,
according to the capacitie of their bodies, and leave their
stings in the wound.”

It is only fair to say that bees differ in disposition, and
that while some. varieties are extremely “handy with their
weapons,” and not at all slow to anger, other kinds are
much less easily provoked.
The Italian bee has an enviable reputation for temper,
though occasionally a hive of Italians is ugly enough, and
one would do well to think twice before going too near,
and then not go.
