>Subject: Re: Honey and Bee History query
>Recently on another list, there was a reference to toxic bees
>used in battle during ancient times. There also seems to have
>been some interest in toxic honey or honey from toxic sources...
 
THERE'S ALREADY BEEN SOME COMMENTS ABOUT THE USE OF TOXIC HONEY IN WARFARE-
- HERE'S SOME RELATED MATERIAL FROM A BOOK I'M WRITING ABOUT BEES IN
CULTURE AND FOLKLORE. THE ENDNOTE NUMBERS DIDN'T COME THROUGH WHEN I
CONVERTED THIS TO ASCII FORMAT BUT WHAT THE HECK.  I'D LIKE TO HEAR OF ANY
OTHER SIMILAR INFO OF WHICH YOU MAY BE AWARE.
 
bee well,
 
        -              Conrad Berube
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WAR AND BEES-- military applications of apiculture
 
...The locals (where toxic honey is produced) would have been well aware
that honey produced during certain times of the year was naturally
poisonous.  Honey yielded from the nectar of such plants as _Rhododendron
ponticum_ and _Azalea pontica_ contain alkaloids that are toxic to humans
but harmless to bees.  After the offending blooms have stopped flowering,
beekeepers in areas where these plants are common (such as the area of
present-day Turkey where this incident occurred) routinely remove this
toxic honey so it doesn't contaminate subsequently produced stores.  The
poisonous honey is then fed back to the bees during time of dearth-- if it
hasn't been used first for national defense*.
 
     (South and Central American Indians used similar honey for
ceremonial purges and perhaps for "vision questing".  Deaths have
been reported in New Zealand which were attributed to the
consumption of honey originating from the "wharangi bush",
_Melicope ternata_*.  Another New Zealand plant, _Coriaria
arborea_, produces nectar that is safe for incorporation into
honey but furnishes toxic honeydew* <a sweet excretion produced
by aphids and collected by bees from the leaves or the aphids
themselves>.  Other locales where toxic honey has been reported
on occasion include Mexico <from _Datura spp._>, Hungary <from
Egyptian henbane=_Datura spp._, belladonna=_Atropa spp._ and
_Hyoscamus niger_>, Brazil <from _Serjania lethalis_> and the
southwest U.S. <from yellow jasmine=_Gelsemium sempervirens_>*.)
 
     Mead, an intoxicating drink made from a honey base has also
been used to gain tactical military advantage.  In 946, the
Slavic St. Olga, on the occasion of her son's funeral, provided
limitless quantities of mead.  She invited her enemies only, who,
presumably, had somehow been instrumental in the death of her
child, and five thousand inebriated `mourners' were slain in
their stupor by Olga's allies.  Similarly, in 1489, 10,000 Tatars
were dispatched by Russians whom the Turkish invaders had been
pursuing.  The Russians left mead behind in their flight and
returned after sufficient time for the Tatars to drink themselves
into a daze*.
 
Of course, there are plenty of instances when bees have been used
in the more obvious way, as "meat-seeking missiles"... The
Romans, for instance, instead of employing the subterfuge of
poisoned honey simply sent beehives catapulting into the ranks or
fortifications of their enemies.  The unleashed fury of the bees,
enraged when their hives were smashed, is credited with being the
decisive stroke of more than one battle.  Turn-about being fair
play the Dacians, of what is today Romania, defeated the armored
legions of Rome, at least temporarily, with their own salvo of
skeps*.
 
Bees have even been used in naval battle: in the Mediterranean
Sea the crew of a small corsair vessel, only about fifty men,
boarded and captured a much larger galley manned by 500 soldiers-
- after the pirates cast beehives from the masts of their ship
down onto the crew of the galley, who had intended to apprehend
_them_*.
 
     Military application of bees has continued into modern
times.  In a novel approach practiced by the Tiv of Nigeria, bees
were kept in special horns also containing powdered poisons.
Thus dusted to increase the efficacy of their own venom the bees
would be released in the heat of battle to attack the Tiv's
enemies (it is not, however, recorded why the bees do not succumb
to the poison themselves or how the bees distinguish between the
Tiv and their foes*).  During the American Civil War, Union
troops were almost routed when southern artillery shattered a row
of hives in a yard through which they were passing.  Bees pitched
at the enemy or booby trapped to topple over with trip wires were
used to the advantage of both sides during skirmishes in World
War I*.  There are even some reports that the Viet Cong used
sabotaged _Apis dorsata _nests against Americans during the
Vietnam war*.  And, in a footnote to the war in South-East Asia,
what was presumed to be a biological warfare agent turned out, in
fact, to be the `yellow rain' produced by _Apis dorsata_  during
massed defecation flights*.
 
     The New World, too, has its own version of a tale of bees in
warfare.  The ancient Quiche Maya are said to have repelled a
siege by posting mannequins along the parapets of their city.
The sham warriors were outfitted with cloaks, spears and shields,
even war bonnets for the gourds that served them as heads--  and
which were full of wasps, horseflies and bees (although these
would have been the native "stingless" bees-- some species of
which are equipped with acidic mandibular secretions capable of
raising nasty welts when one is bitten-- rather than _A.
mellifera_) that the defenders had collected.  When the advancing
army was close to the battlements the gourds were smashed and the
assailants were overcome by the stinging insects*.
 
__
References:
 
Ambrose, J.T.  1973.  "Bees and Warfare."  _Gleanings in Bee
Culture_.  pp. 343-346; Georghiou, G.P.  1980.  "Ancient
Beekeeping."  _The ABC and XYZ of Bee Culture. _ (Root, A.I.,
editors.)   A.I. Root Company.  Medina, Ohio.  pp. 17-21
 
Root, A.I.  1980.  _ibid._
 
Espina-Prez, D. and G.S. Ordetx-Ros.  1983. _Flora Ap!cola
Tropical._  Editorial Tecnol"gico de Costa Rica, Cartago, Costa
Rica.  p. 35
 
Crane, E.  1975.  _Honey: a Comprehensive Survey._  Bee Research
Association.  William Heinemann Ltd., London.  p. 204
 
Crane, 1975.  _ibid._; Espina-Prez and Ordetx-Ros, 1983.
_ibid._
 
Krochmal, C. and A. Krochmal.  1982.  "Beekeeping in Romania."
_American Bee Journal_.  Vol. 122(5), pp. 345-346
 
Heather, P.  1940.  "Animal Beliefs."  _Folklore._  Vol. 51, p.
273
 
Morse, R.A.  1955.  "Bees Go to War."  _Gleanings in Bee
Culture_.  pp. 585-587
 
Adam, L.  1985.   _L'Apiculture a Travers les Ages._  Editions
Gerbert.  pp. 75-76
 
Aouade, J.A.A.  1979.  "Traditional Beekeeping in Nigeria--
Editorial Summary from `Beekeeping Among the Tiv'."  _Beekeeping
in Rural Development: Unexploited Beekeeping Potential in the
Tropics with Particular reference to the Commonwealth_.
Commonwealth Secretariat and the International Bee Research
Association, London.  pp. 23
 
Ransome, H.M.  1986.  _The Sacred Bee in Ancient Times and
Folklore_.  Bee Books New and Old.  Burrowbridge, Bridgwater,
England.  pp. 152
 
Addey, M.  1984.  "Honeybee Faeces-- An Explanation of `Yellow
Rain'?."  _Bee World_.  Vol. 65(3), pp. 138-139; Mardan, M. and
P.G. Kevan.  1989.  "Honeybees and `Yellow Rain'."  _Nature_.
Vol. 341, pp. 191
 
Beach, F.A.  1975.  "Beasts Before the Bar."  _Ants, Indians, and
Little Dinosaurs._   (Alan Ternes, editor.)  Charles Scribner's
Sons, New York.
 
_Popul Vuh; The Mayan Book of the Dawn of Life_.  1985.  (D.
Tedlock, translator).  Simon and Shuster Inc., New York.  p. 194-
196)