THE BEE. 



could mere machines have thus provided for a case which in a 

 state of nature has probably never occurred to ten nests of humble- 

 bees since the creation ? If in this instance these little animals 

 were not guided by a process of reasoning, what is the distinction 

 between reason and instinct ? How could the most profound 

 architect have better adapted the means to the end how more 

 dexterously shored up a tottering edifice, until his beams and his 

 props were in readiness ? * 



99. The following remarkable example of the care bestowed by 

 the nurses in keeping the pupa warm, more especially during the 

 day which immediately precedes its exit from the cocoon as a 

 perfect insect an epoch, when as it would seem it is more 

 especially necessary that it should be maintained at an elevated 

 temperature, was supplied by Mr. Newport. That naturalist 

 observed that in the process of incubation, the humble-bee at that 

 particular stage increased considerably the force of its respiration. 

 To render the purpose of this intelligible to the reader not accus- 

 tomed to physiological enquiries, it may be necessary to state that 

 in the act of respiration the oxygen, which is one of the constitu- 

 ents of the atmosphere, enters into combination with the carbon 

 and hydrogen, which compose part of the body of the animal. 

 Now this combination being identical with that which produces 

 heat in a common coal fire or the flame of a lamp, the same 

 effect is produced in the animal economy from the same cause ; 

 and hence it arises that the development of heat in the body is 

 always so much the greater, in proportion to the increased activity 

 of respiration. 



100. To return to the hive-bee, it was observed by Mr. Newport 

 that in the early stage of the incubation of the pupa, the rate of 

 respiration of the insect is very gradual, but becomes more and 

 more freqiient as the epoch approaches at which it issues from the 

 cocoon; the number of respirations per minute then amounting 

 to 120 or 130. 



Mr. Newport states that he has seen a bee upon the combs con- 

 tinue perseveringly to respire at that rate for eight or ten hours, 

 until its temperature was greatly increased and its body bathed 

 in perspiration. When exhausted in this way it would retire 

 from its maternal duty and give place to another foster-mother, 

 who would proceed in the same way to impart warmth to the 

 pupa. 



In one case Mr. Newport found that while the thermometer in 

 the external air stood at 70*2, it rose on the lips of these cells 

 which were not brooded upon at the moment, to 80*2, but when 

 placed in contact with the bodies of the brooding bees, it rose 



* Kirby, Int., i. 320. 

 46 



