The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1902-12-06
BEES AS AID IN BATTLES
LIKEWISE ARMIES THAT WERE
ROUTED
By the Wasps and the Taran'
tuia

In the recent fighting in Hayti wasps
Wer used with startling effect against
the reVolutiOnists by the toWnspeople
OF place bearing, under the circum-
stances, the not inappropriate name Of
Marmalade. An assault had been or
dered after considerable fighting of
more or less sanguinaary nature had
taken place, and the attacking troops,
flushed with the hopes of an easy vic
tory, with unlimited loot to follow, had
formed up at the foot Of a steep hill,
when several old sugar puncheons fill
ed with the insects were rolled down
among them from above. The barrels
were broken by the impact, and these
commenced forthwith a savage and
pertinacious onslaught, against which
neither rifles nor bayonets were of the
slightest avail. For a few brief mo-
ments the unequal battle was MAIN
tanned, then the rebels broke and fed
in all directions, leaving their insect
enemies masters of the field.
Curiously enough, another incident
of very similar nature was reported
at about the same time from st. Meen,
in France, Here the inhabitants, in
order to intimidate the gendarmes
who came to close their schools. put
hives of bees on their barricades, the
effect upon the attacking party being,
for aW lille, at all events, precisely the
same as in the case cited above. Of
course, the use Of venomous insects as
auxiliaries in warfare is no new thing.
History tells us that the Roman le-
gionaries were routed by bees as long
ago as the time of Mithridates; and at
a much later date the forces of
Mahomet II, while operating in the
Morea, were severely incommoded by
sWarms of hornets, which the peasants
used to let loose among them by night
from big, wide-mouthed linen bags.
A striking incident of the relief of
CawnpOre, again, was the rout of the
Ninth Lancers by a swarm of bees. A
village in the line of march was found
to be defended by a hastily improvised
stockade, on the top of which a num-
Der of hives were stuck. Into one of
these a young officer jabbed his sword,
with result that, in far less time
than it takes to tell it, the whole ad-
vance guard was racing for dear life
to the rear, and Sir Hope Grant has
tily formed line of battle, believing it
repulsed by the mutineers in force
1t was during the operations in
Spain which Immediately followed the
to hs-dtsastrous battle of Almaza
that the strange spectacle was seen of
an entire army, including at least three
regiments of British infantry. in head
long fight from a tarantula- infested
camping ground. The insects appear
i'm
any warning, and almost before any,
one was aware of their presence a
number of men We're bitten and were
suffering cruelty.
Our Portuguese allies were the first
to take alarm, flying pell-mell to the
hills. with wild cries of "Tarantula!
Tarantula!" The phlegmatic Dutch
stood their ground bravely and tried
smoking the insects to death with green
wood, but eventually they also had to
take to their heels; and they were
quickly followed by our "Tommies, -
who one and all declared that while
perfectly ready and able to fight and
lick" all the Trenches" in creation
they did not relish also having to tao
.kle "Old Nick in the guise of spider,
The gigantic tropical fireflies which
swarm in the forests and cane-brakes
of most of the low-lying West Indies
island once proved the salvation CT the
city of San Domingo. A body of buc-
cancers, headed by the notorious
Thomas Cayendish, had laid all their
plans for a descent upon the place, in
tending to massacre the inhabitants
and carry away all the treasure they
conveniently could, and had actually
put off in their boats for that pur-
pose.
AS they approached the land, how
ever, rowing with muff1ed oars, they
were greatly surprised to see an infinite
number of moving lights in the woods
which fringed the bayou up which they
had to proceed, and, concluding that
the Spaniards knew of their approach
they put about and regained their
ships without attempting to land.-Tit-
Bits.