r«J on btes. Sept. l()i 



tionlefs and apparently without life. Jn a house in' 

 my neighbourhood, a bat, in its torpid state, in January 

 fell down among fom« clothes, and being taken up, 

 and carefully laid up among some tow in a conveni- 

 ent place, it continued in its torpid state, and with- 

 out food near three months, and revived some time 

 in April, and was then set at liberty. But the bees, 

 I apprehend, are never in a torpid state in this sense. 

 They cannot bear the winter's cold without a cover, 

 and therefore are crowded together in their hives, 

 and have little room to dance and play ; but they hum 

 I suppose, except in the night when they are afleep, 

 and feed in the winter upon the provision stored up 

 by their induftry in summer. A hive, it is supposed, 

 cannot be kept safely through winter, that does not 

 weigh upwards of thirty-two pounds, of which the hive 

 (scape) weighs but six pounds; and besides consuming 

 this provision, they must be fed in the spring if the 

 severe weather continues long. It is a common saying, 

 in Forfarfliire, and perhaps in other places, that the 

 bees sing on Christmas morning ; this, however, is 

 probably no more than they do every morning. On 

 last Christmas morning I desired some to listen to 

 the song of the bees ; and though there was a severe 

 storm, they told they heard them hum very distinct- 

 ly. To answer the Young Observer's queries con- 

 cerning bees, therefore, would, I think, be building 

 on the huselefs fabric of a vision*. 



Yackstrotte. 



• I (hould suspect that the doubt will be, whether the opinion of the 

 Young Observer or Mr Yackstrotte, be the greatest vision. Many things 

 that have been long generally admitted as facts, I know have been found 

 to be false j — 'perhaps the sleep of the bees, during cold weather in wift- 



