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XII. On the Aqueous Vapour expelled from Bee-hives. By George Newport, 

 Esq., F.R.S., Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons, S^c. Communicated 

 by the Secretary. 



Read March 3rd, 184G. 



1 HERE is one circumstance connected with the economy of the Bee-hive 

 which does not appear to have engaged the attention of naturalists. It is the 

 transpiration of vapour from the interior of the hive, at certain seasons, during 

 the act of ventilation. Every bee-keeper must have noticed that at the latter 

 part of the summer there is often a deposit of blackish carbonaceous matter 

 on the footstool of straw hives, which is extended a few inches from the 

 entrance-hole. This deposit is accumulated there in the course of a few 

 months. When it first attracted my attention, I supposed that it was occa- 

 sioned by the bees alighting at that spot and accidentally shattering some of 

 their loads of pollen ; or that, perhaps, it might be rejected excrementitious 

 matter ; but I afterwards satisfied myself that it does not arise from either of 

 these causes. The pollen conveyed by the bee is rarely or ever shattered in its 

 transit, while the bees are always particularly careful to remove obnoxious 

 materials from the interior of their dwelling or its immediate vicinity. Other 

 circumstances have since led me to believe that it results from the accumula- 

 tion of small quantities of wax that had adhered to the feet of the bees that 

 have just left the combs and are passing outwards, and that its dark appear- 

 ance may perhaps be due to the same cause as that which discolours the 

 combs in the interior, and changes them in the course of a few months from 

 a delicate yellow to a dark brown, and even to a blackish hue. 



When a hive is examined very early in the morning, at the end of summer, 

 after a fine cool night, we usually observe at the entrance-hole a stream of 

 moisture passing from it, sometimes in drops. This is more or less abundant 

 at different periods according to the temperature of the preceding day, the 

 activity of the bees, and the coolness of the night. There seems reason to 



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