100 THE HUMBLE-BEE vi 
had a great deal of difficulty in learning how to 
find their way up and down the tubes. 
A jar threw all the colonies into an uproar, the 
workers crowding together and tumbling over one 
another in their excitement; but they soon quieted 
down. Of course, as no bees could escape inside 
the house, there was no risk of getting stung. At 
first the least vibration caused a commotion ; later 
on, however, the bees became accustomed to slight 
jars, and as a rule they took no notice of them, but 
occasionally, in some of the nests, the alarm would 
be raised by a worker or two, and it then quickly 
spread through the colony. 
Frequent panics seemed to check the prosperity 
of the colonies: I therefore kept them as quiet as 
possible, and I made the door of the house to open 
noiselessly with a spring fastener so that my going 
in and out did not cause any disturbance. 
It was necessary to remove the vestibule in 
order to clean it. To prevent the bees escaping 
when taking it away I slipped a strip of tin-plate 
over the hole in the bottom section. When I 
wished to confine the bees for a day or two, the 
tin-plate was slipped between the vestibule and the 
entrance tube. Sometimes I wanted to confine the 
queen and not the workers to the nest: this was 
done by substituting for the tin-plate a thin board con- 
taining a slot too small for the queen to escape, but 
large enough to permit the passage of the workers. 
By taking care to avoid jarring and breathing 
upon the bees, I could always lift the glass off a 
