A general opinion prevails that every hive remains at all times unconnected with other colonies in the neighbourhood, and that strangers are always considered as enemies. Mr. Knight, on the contrary, has in several instances witnessed a friendly intercourse to take place between different colonies, and he imagines it to be productive of important consequences in their political economy. 

Having observed several bees flying one evening at a later hour than they usually work, he endeavoured to discover how they were employed, and he found them to be passing in a direct line from one of his own hives to that of a cottager, about 100 yards distant. There was a considerable degree of bustle and agitation in each of these hives; every bee as it arrived seemed to be stopped and questioned at the mouth of each hive, but there was no appearance of hostility or resistance. 

This kind of intercourse continued, in a greater or less degree, during the eight following days, and appeared to be amicable for the whole of that time. But on the 10th their friendship terminated in a quarrel, and they fought desperately.

On the Economy of Bees. In a Letter from Thomas Andrew Knight. Read May 14, 1807.

[well, now. that's something!]

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