448 HYBERNATION Ot? INSERTS. 



a sort of torpidity {engoiirdissement)^ in which no tran» 

 spiration from them takes place ; or, at least, during 

 which the quantity of that which transpires is so incon- 

 siderable, that it cannot be restored by aliment with- 

 out their lives being- endangered. In winter, while it 

 freezes, one may observe without fear the interior of 

 hives that are not of glass ; for we nuiy lay them on 

 their sides, and even turii them bottom upv»ards,without 

 putting any bee into motion. We see the bees crowded 

 and closely pressed one against the other : little space 

 then suffices for them\" In another place, speaking 

 of the custom in some countries of putting bee-hives 

 during winter into out-houses and cellars, he says that 

 in such situations the air, tliough more temperate than 

 out of doors during the greater part of winter, " is 

 yet sufficiently cold to keep the bees in that species 

 of torpidity which does away their need of eating''." 

 And lastly, he expressly says that the milder the 

 weather, the more risk there is of the bees ccnsuming 

 their honey before the springj and dying of hunger ; 

 and coniirms his assertion by an account of a striking 

 e.xperiment, in Mliich a hive that he transferred during 

 winter into his study, w here the temperature was usu- 

 ally in the day 10 or 12° 11. above freezing (59° F.), 

 though provided with a plentiful supply of honey, that 

 if they had been in a garden would have served them 

 past the end of April, had consumed nearly their whole 

 stock before tlie end of February''. 



Now, how are we to reconcile this contradiction ? 

 — for, if Huber be correct in asserting that in frosty 

 weather bees agitate themselves to keep off the cold^ 



'" licauai, V. 667. " Ibid. 682. " Ibid. 668, 



