THE HONEY-BEE. 51 



Chester in the province of New York, was put inta 

 a hive and removed to the place where it was to 

 remain. Next morning the Bees were found dead, 

 swelled to double their natural size, and black, 

 except a few which appeared torpid and feeble, and 

 soon died on exposure to the air." This was attri- 

 buted to their being poisoned, not by their having 

 fed upon, but by the effluvia of the Rhus Vernix. 



Hearing. Considerable difference of opinion has 

 prevailed amongst Naturalists, both as to the exist- 

 ence of this sense in Bees, and the situation of 

 the organ. Aristotle was doubtful whether Bees 

 possess this sense : " Incertum est, an audiant." 

 Linnaeus and Bonnet denied them the faculty, and 

 Huber seems undecided on the point ; while a host 

 of others, among whom are ranked Kirby and 

 Spence, maintain its existence, and place the organ 

 in the antennae. We know that the Bees dislike 

 noise, for an apiar}' situated near mills, smithies, or 

 other noisy work- shops, is seldom prosperous. The 

 different modulations of sound produced by the wings 

 in flying, seem intended as means of communication 

 addressed to an organ of hearing, as signals of attack, 

 of recal, of departure, &c. In consequence of a 

 belief in the reality of this sense in Bees, the practice 

 is common of beating sonorous bodies at the moment 

 of swarming, in order to prevent them from com- 

 municating with one another, and thus to present 

 an obstacle to their, flying away. We know also 

 that many other insects possess this faculty; and, as 

 we observe in the proceedings of Bees, the same 



