comstock] 



OBSERVATION DEE-HIVE 



III 



is working. A passageway that leads from the entrance of the 

 hive to the exit at the window has a glass top, so the interesting 

 performances of the bees passing in and out while at work and 

 the actions of the sentinels which guard the entrance may be 

 observed. This hive has black curtains hung over it when not 

 in use. If the glass is not kept covered most of the time so that 



Fig. 2. — An observation hive holding only two frames, with the two sides who iy of glass, so that 

 any single bee can be continuously watched. Drawn from hive in Professor Kellogg's laboratory. 

 (From Kellogg's " American Insects," copyright 1904, by Holt & Co.). 



the interior of the hive is dark, the bees will take the matter in 

 charge and curtain the inside of the glass with propolis or bee- 

 glue, thus shutting out intrusive eyes. I remember once a Sister 

 teaching in a parochial school came to me in much perplexity; 

 she had taken great pains to introduce an observation hive of 

 bees into her schoolroom, and not knowing that the bees wished 

 to have their home entirely dark, she failed to cover the glass in 

 the slides of the hive; the bees, therefore, did it for themselves 

 so well that after the first few days her pupils were unable to make 

 any observations. 



