October, '22] 



PHILLIPS: ACTIVITY AND BEE LONGEVITY 



369 



dead bees were rem.oved for counting. Lot No. 2 (294 bees) was placed 

 in a room of the laboratory within one foot of a 40 watt Mazda light 

 which burned night and day until all the bees were dead. This caused 

 excessive activity as long as the bees were capable of it. Lot No. 3 

 (248 bees) was kept in a room of the laboratory without artificial light 

 and where the direct sunlight did not strike the bees at any time. The 

 light was not strong as the exposure of the room is to the north and east 

 and the window on the east side is partly shaded by a tree. The bees 

 in this lot were quite noisy with periods of rest. 



The worker bees in the dark room lived an average of 2. 1934 ±0.0286 

 days. The temperature in this room varied between 18.8° and 20.4° C. 

 during the life of these bees. The last bee died on the fourth day. The 

 bees of Lot 2 under constant light lived an average of 1.1293^0.0194 

 days, the last bee dying 42 hours after the installation of the bees. The 

 average temperature as recorded by a thermometer lying beside the cage 

 varied between 23.1° and 27.2° C. The bees kept in diffused light in 

 the laboratory hved an average of 1.2261 ±0.0291 days, the last bee dy- 

 ing 51 hours after the beginning of the experiment. The temperature 

 in this room varied between 22° and 24° C. 



These bees were installed at 1:30 p.m. on May 10. At 6:30 p.m. on 

 the next day one drone in the lot under constant light was still able to 

 walk and two worker bees were moving their antennae. At 8:30 p.m. 

 on the 11th one of the workers moved slightly. At 8:00 a.m. the next 

 morning all were dead. In the lot kept in diffuse light during the day 

 five workers were seen moving feebly on the morning of the second day 

 and they were all dead at 4:00 p.m. Those in the dark room became 

 sluggish also but not so rapidly. The death rate by days is recorded in 

 the accompanying table : — 



Table Showing Death Rate of Worker Bees Without Foof 



That any animal will starve to death in so short a time as is here in- 

 dicated is startling. That they died of starvation is obvious from the 

 fact that in all the series recorded there were other lots of bees which 

 were given various sugars as food on which the term of life was decidedly 



