certaine rulers, which wayte vpon him by a dayly authoritie. If anye happeneth, as writeth Plinie, to breake of the kings right wing, then from the king will not the ſwarme after departe, as the like was rehearſed afore. Beſides theſe, the Bees haue a maruelous order among them, if their king happen to die, for then thay ſhal bitterly mourne for their king deade, and for the lacke of another, as ſuch whiche cannot be guided and ruled without a king among them, and of this they be in continuall mourning. So that for the time, they carry no foode into theyr Hyues, nor flye not forth, but with a ſadde bewailyng and humming, after theyr King, they heape thicke togyther aboute the deade body, and vnleſſe another King increaſeth by little and lyttle among them, they dye for hunger. Theyr king laboureth not, but as the other flye foorthe, hee in the meane tyme as an exhorter moueth and encourageth forwarde euerye one to hys worke, by his flying aboute in the Hiue.
¶What kinde of Bees are beſte, and rather to be choſen. Cap. ix.
IN this point, for true knowledge of theſe, doth M. Varro diſcribe thoſe Bees to be beſt, which be finall of body, and diuerſe and round, bycauſe they be earneſt in labour, and make a thinne honny, and better endure labour, and gather their honny on hilles, but the worſer Bees gather their honny of the garden floures onlye, whiche be ſomewhat long of bodye, lyke to waſpes. Virgil doth eſpecially commend the ſmall Bees, beyng ſomwhat long, light, and clenly in their buſineſſe, and gliſtering to golde. So that the greater and rounder Bee, is diſcommended of all writers. Although the fierce Bees are very ill, yet is their yrefulneſſe, a note of the better Bees, whiche may easily be appeaſed, by the daylye haunting among them, for if the kepers do often handle the Hyues, then do they become gentle in in a ſhort time.
The Bees alſo endure if they be diligently loked vnto, for
