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from what it is in summer. The cause of this has been, 

 that the insertion of the instrument has aroused the bees, 

 and excited them to a high degree of rage, in consequence 

 of which they have accumulated round the bulb of the 

 thermometer in a state of great excitement. To avoid 

 this influence, Mr. Newport introduced into the hive a 

 thermometer, and left it there ; in time, the bees became 

 familiarized with it, and took no notice of it. He then 

 found that the temperature of the hive sunk when the bees 

 were quiet and asleep, and immediately rose when they were 

 excited. On one occasion, in a clear frosty day, when the 

 temperature of the external air was as low as 17°, he found 

 that of the hive to be only 30°, or two degrees below the 

 freezing point ; the bees were then roused in the usual manner, 

 by tapping the hive, and in sixteen minutes the temperature 

 rose to 70°, or forty degrees in amount, being 52° 

 above that of the external atmosphere. The perfection 

 of the ventilation of the hive is shewn by the following 

 circumstance :— In winter, the temperature of 70° (the 

 usual summer temperature of the hives) is intolerable 

 to the insect if the temperature of the external air be 

 40°. If in these circumstances the hive be aroused, the 

 temperature rises to 70°. " I have often been amused," 

 says Mr. Newport, "by observing them, after the hive has 

 been aroused for a short time, although but a few minutes 

 before there was not a single bee on the alighting board, 

 come hastily to the entrance of the hive, and, having 

 arranged themselves within three-fourths of an inch from 

 the doorway, begin to fan with their wings most laboriously, 

 to occasion a current of cool air through the hive. On one 

 occasion, when the temperature of the hive had been raised 

 to about 70° Fahrenheit, the external atmosphere being 

 scarcely more than 40°, the bees at mid-day maintained 

 the temperature of the hive steadily at 57° by this mode 

 of ventilating the hive, the bees still continuing excited. Jn 

 the larva of Sphinx Ligustri, the activity of the animal 



