PROCEEDINGS OF SOCIETIES. 371 



materials has been exhausted. A variety of experiments are related, tending to 

 prove that a large proportion of the heat evolved by an insect, when in a state 

 of great activity, is dissipated into the surrounding medium, and- that the 

 quantity of heat so generated bears definite relations to the habits, the locality, 

 and the energy of respiration in each respective species of insect. Volant insects, 

 he finds, have the highest temperature ; and of these the diurnal bear a higher 

 temperature than the crepuscular; next to these must be placed the diurnal 

 terrestrial, and last of all the nocturnal terrestrial species. 



In the next division of this paper the author considers the temperature of those 

 insects which live in societies ; and in particular of the Humble Bee and the 

 Hive Bee. His observations are confirmatory of many of those of Hubeb re- 

 lating to the incubating habits of the former of these species ; and he has further 

 ascertained, that during the act of incubation the Bees possess a voluntary power 

 of generating heat, whereby the temperature of their bodies is raised, apparently 

 for the purpose of imparting warmth to the young in the cells ; that this process 

 is accompanied by accelerated respiration ; and that the amount of heat evolved 

 is proportional to the quantity of air respired. The law established by Dr. 

 Edwards in the case of the young mammiferous animals, namely, that they 

 possess less power of generating heat, and that for a certain time they are unable 

 to maintain their usual temperature, is shown by the author to be equally appli- 

 cable to the early stages of insect life, and also to the perfect insect immediately 

 after its development from the pupa. 



The temperature of the Hive Bee is next examined, and it is shown, contrary 

 to the statements of Reaumur, Huber, and others, that Bees do not maintain a 

 very high temperature in their hives during winter, but that they are disposed, 

 when not disturbed by any occasional vicissitudes of atmospheric temperature, 

 to assume the state of hybernation ; although, on the other hand, when the Bees 

 are much disturbed, the temperature of the hive may, even in the midst of 

 winter, become greatly raised. The temperature of the hive is lowest in January, 

 and gradually increases up to the period of swarming, in May or June, after 

 which time it diminishes. A table is given exhibiting the results of successive 

 observations on the influence of the diminution of heat and of light which 

 attended the progress of the annular eclipse of the sun on the 15th of May, 1836, 

 on the temperature of the hive. 



It appears, from the inquiries of the author, that different parts of the hive do 

 not preserve the same relative heat among one another at different periods, and 

 also that the amount of free heat in the hive is often 10° or 15°, even in the 

 months of July and August. 



The remaining division of the paper is devoted to the consideration of the 

 connexion existing between the development of heat and the functions of respira- 



