summer the bee keeper should inspect each hive at least three times a month, fumigating them lightly, cleaning and throwing out dirt and worms.  At the same time he should take precautions to keep down the number of princes, for they keep the bees from work by stirring up sedition.  There are said to be three kinds of royalties among the bees:  the black, the red and the mottled, or, as Menecrates writes, two:  the black and the mottled:  and as the latter is the better it behooves the bee keeper, when he finds both kinds in a hive, to kill the black one, as he is forever playing politics[212] against the other king, whereby the hive must suffer, for inevitably one of the kings will flee or be driven out, in either case taking his party with him.

“Of working bees the small round mottled variety is considered the best.  The drone, or, as some call him, the thief,[213] is black with a large belly.  The wasp, which has some resemblance to a bee, is not, however, a fellow labourer, but attacks the bees with his sting, wherefore the bees keep him at a distance.

“Bees are themselves distinguished as wild and tame.  I call those wild which feed in the forests, and those tame which feed in cultivated places.  The forest bees are smaller in size and hairy but better workmen.

“In buying bees it behooves the purchaser to see whether they are well or ailing.  The signs of health are a thick swarm, well groomed appearance and a hive being filled in a workmanlike manner.  The signs of lack of condition on the other hand are a hairy and bristling appearance and a dusty coat, unless this last is caused by a pressure of work, for under such circumstances they often wear themselves down and become thin.

“If the hives are to be transferred from one place to another it is necessary to choose a fit time to make the move and a suitable place to receive them.  As to time, spring is preferable to winter because in winter they have difficulty in adjusting themselves to a new location and so often run away, as they do also if you move them from a good location to a place where proper pasture is not available.  Nor is a transfer from one hive to another in the same place to be undertaken carelessly, but that to which the bees are to be transferred should be rubbed with bee balm, which will serve as a bait for them, and some pieces of honey comb should be placed in it, not far from the entrances, for fear that the bees might run away if they found the larder of their new home empty.

“Menecrates says that bees contract a malady of the bowels from their first spring pasture on the blossoms of the almond and the cornel cherry and are cured by giving them urine to drink.[214]