190 Linnaan Society. 



Obs. Affinis C. panicea, L., satis foliis filiformibus, squamis foemineis 

 mucronatis, perigynii rostro recto, distincta. 



March 3. — Edward Forster, Esq., V.P., in the Chair. 



Read a paper " On the Aqueous Vapour, and on the dark colour 

 of the Wax, in Bee-hives." By George Newport, Esq., F.R.S. &c. 

 Communicated by the Secretary. 



The author directs attention in this paper to the transpiration of 

 vapour from the interior of bee-hives at certain seasons of the year, 

 an occurrence which, he remarks, has almost escaped the observation 

 of naturalists. He also recalls to the notice of the bee-keeper that 

 at the latter end of summer there is often a deposit of dark-coloured 

 matter on the foot-stool, or on the alighting-board at the entrance- 

 hole of the hive, extending a few inches from it. This deposit the 

 author at first believed to be occasioned by shattered pollen or by 

 rejected excrementa, but he was afterwards convinced that it does 

 not arise from either of these causes. He believes it is occasioned 

 by small quantities of wax, which, adhering to the feet of the bees 

 when they leave the combs, become deposited on the floor at the en- 

 trance as the bees leave the hive ; and the darkened colour which 

 this deposit acquires he thinks is due to the same cause as that 

 which changes the appearance of the combs in the interior. This, 

 he suggests, may depend on some chemical effect produced in the 

 wax by the respired air of the hive. Part of the carbonic acid which 

 necessarily results from the respiration of the bees on the combs may 

 become chemically combined with the wax, composed, as it actually 

 is, of nearly eight-tenths of its whole weight of carbon, and it may 

 thus acquire the darkened colour from the surcharge of its chief con- 

 stituent, the affinity being promoted by the elevated temperature of 

 the hive. 



In the autumn, when a hive is examined early in the morning, 

 after the bees have been in a state of activity during the preceding 

 day, and more especially when the temperature of the preceding 

 night has been low, there is often a quantity of fluid draining from 

 the entrance-hole. The amount of this is dependent on the greater 

 or less degree of activity of the bees, and consequently of their respi- 

 ration and of the transpiration from their bodies. 



Huber stated that the interior of the hive is ventilated by the 

 fanning of the bees with their wings. This observation the author 

 has confirmed ; and he suggests the probability, that it is to the meet- 

 ing of the two currents of introduced and expelled air, occasioned by 

 this act of the bees, that the deposition of the vapour as fluid is due. 



In order to ascertain the quantity of vapour condensed and ex- 

 pelled from a hive, he made experiments, which, as he remarks, al- 

 though not free from objection, yet afford some indication of the 

 amount. He cut off the bottom of a glass phial, and then accurately 

 fitted the phial to the entrance-hole of a box-hive, in such a manner 

 that both the expelled and the introduced air passed through it. 

 During one night of nearly twelve hours, at the commencement of 

 September, there was condensed within the phial nearly one drachm 



