PSYCHE. 185 
by the stored-up fat cells of the body. 
The species of Apis, on the other hand, 
remain active, take food, and resemble 
more closely the higher vertebrates. In 
a nearly uniform temperature of from 
3° to 8° C. the domestic honey bees 
remain very quiet, take but little food, 
and only move as the cold at the outside 
of the cluster impels them to crowd tow- 
ards the centre, or as the absence of food 
in any part of the hive impels the whole 
cluster to change its position. If the 
temperature outside the hive is main- 
tained within the limits mentioned above, 
the bees will eat so little, and there will 
be so little dis-assimilation in the body, 
that all the excrementitious substances, 
except such as pass off with the breath, 
and this last is very slight at such 
times — are easily and safely held in the 
intestines for so long a space as five or six 
months. But if the temperature immedi- 
ately without the hive is for any consid- 
erable period lowered much below the 
point mentioned above, the bees attempt 
to increase the animal heat by action, 
and by increased consumption of honey, 
which among vertebrates is typical as a 
heat producing food. This leads to an 
excessive accumulation of fecal matter 
within the intestines, which consists of 
the undigested food and the waste prod- 
ucts which are the resultant of func- 
tional activity. In this condition, bees 
must soon fly forth to void their feces, 
which in normal circumstances they only 
do while on the wing, or soon they will 
be attacked by fatal dysentery. The 
above is undoubtedly the rightful ex- 
planation of the exceeding mortality 
among bees the past winter. In many 
parts of the more northern states, bees 
have been confined to their hives for five 
months, and in almost all cases where 
they have not been protected from the 
severe cold, they have died. Those win- 
tered in suitable cellars are safe and 
healthy, and many protected out doors 
by a thick wall of chaff about their hives 
are saved from death. I have found by 
weighing the honey in the fall and in 
the spring, that bees kept in the right 
temperature during the past winter have 
consumed never more than ten pounds 
(4 Kg. 5) of honey to the colony, while 
all colonies exposed to the severe cold 
have taken more than twice that amount. 
The former have wintered well, the latter 
have sickened and died. 
If bees are confined in winter, and the 
temperature be raised much above 10° 
C., the heat becomes a serious irritant, 
and the bees, unless their hives are very 
well ventilated, and unless they are soon 
enabled to fiy out from their hives, will 
speedily die. 
It is an interesting fact that bees re- 
quire only the carbo-hydrates for food in 
winter. They will winter better on clear 
honey or even pure cane sugar than when 
well supplied with the nitrogenous pollen. 
I think the reason of this is, that in the 
first case they are prevented from the 
activity which follows upon brood rear- 
ing, and breeding can only be carried on 
when there is pollen in the hive. 
We see then that our honey bees are 
not dormant in winter, but that, in our 
colder climates they are Othello-like, and 
with their occupation gone; and shut in 
by the rigor of the season, they only eat 
the small amount necessary to the bated 
activity of their bodily functions. 
