PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 193 



of the community to which it belongs. Walking- upon 

 the combs, it seeks for the door of the hive, that it may 

 sally forth and be useful. Full of life and activity, it 

 then takes its first flight; and, unconducted but by its 

 instinct, visits like the rest the subjects of Flora, ab- 

 sorbs their nectar, covers itself with (lieir ambrosial 

 dust, which it kneads into a mass and packs upon its 

 hind legs ; and if need be, gathers propolis, and returns 

 unembarrassed to its own hive"*. 



Instances of the expedition with which our little fa- 

 vourites accomplish their various objects you have had 

 several : but this is never more remarkable than when 

 they settle in a new hive. At this time, in twenty-four 

 hours they will sometimes construct a comb twenty 

 inches long by seven or eight wide ; and the hive will 

 be half filled in five or six days ; so that in the first 

 fifteen days as much wax is made as in the whole year 

 besides''. 



In treating- of the various employments of the bees, 

 I must not omit one of the greatest importance to 

 tiiem — the ventilation of their abode. When you con- 

 sider the numbers contained in so confined a space ; 

 the high temperature to which its atmosphere is raised; 

 and the small aperture at which the air principally en- 

 ters, you will readily conceive how soon it must be ren- 

 dered unfit for respiration, and be convinced that there 

 must be some means of constantly renewing it. If you 

 feel disposed to think that the ventilation takes place, 

 as in our apartments, by natural means, resulting from 

 the rarefaction of the air by the heat of the hive, and 

 the consequent establishment of an interior and exte- 



" Keauni. V. 602, " Ihid. 65G. 



VOL. II. O 



