374 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY CHAP. 



the workers ; others are busy ventilating the hive by the 

 continual vibration of their wings ; others in keeping the 

 whole hive scrupulously clean, carrying outside any dirt that 

 may accumulate, any intruder that may have ventured in, 

 or any fellow -bee that has died within the hive; others 

 again seem to act. as sentinels at the door, chasing away alien 

 bees or other intruders. At our first glance at a hive, con- 

 fusion may seem to reign, for so many are coming and going, 

 but as we watch, the order behind the apparent confusion 

 becomes gradually evident. So all goes on methodically and 

 busily during the summer months, the workers often wearing 

 themselves out with their strenuous activities in six or seven 

 weeks, though the queen, who is so well fed by them, and so 

 assiduously cared for, may live four or five years. 



The Ap- As co ^ weather approaches and honey be- 

 proach of comes difficult to get, the bees quit the hive less 



Winter. anc [ j ess O ften, the grubs, which are still developing, 

 being fed on pollen from the stores. The whole activity of 

 the hive lessens, the queen ceases to lay eggs, and the bees all 

 cluster round her on the top of the honey cells, and there 

 remain crowded together and beating their wings for warmth. 

 They feed now on the honey in the cells, which is licked 

 up by those nearest it and passed on from one to another 

 until all are fed. They remain in this more or less torpid 

 condition all the winter, the only visible movement occurring 

 when those on the outskirts of the mass, getting chilled, 

 make their way inwards to the warm centre, a continual 

 circulation of the bees being thus kept up. 



The following spring, the increasing warmth 



of the sun begins to gradually arouse them once 



more to active life. Even a warm day in January will entice 



out a few bees, and all the early spring flowers are eagerly 



visited by them ; it is as if, after their long imprisonment in 



the dark hive, and their dependence on " preserved " honey, 



they crave once more the taste of the fresh nectar, to be 



obtained, after an invigorating fly through the air, direct from 



the heart of a flower, with the sunshine bathing everything in 



warmth and light a change indeed to be eagerly welcomed. 



Preparations By April all is once more in full swing ; the 



for Swarm- queen has been laying eggs since February, soon 



in &- the hive will become overcrowded, and to relieve 



