HYMENOPTERA. 357 



cold, and numbed before they have been able to return home 

 again." * 



In the month of March, a gathering of wax is made by cutting 

 away the lower part of the hives, where the cakes have grown 

 old. The principal honey harvest takes place towards the end 

 of May, June, or July, according to the place the hives are in. 

 A larger or smaller gathering takes place according to the quan- 

 tity of honey ready, and the state of the season. As the bees 

 will not see the violation of their domicile and theft of their 



Fig. 330. Hives under the shade of trees. 



winter provisions without anger, to get possession of the honey- 

 comb with which the hive is filled, you must put these irritable 

 insects into such a state that they are unable to injure you. They 

 can be rendered peaceable by smoking them. The smoke is 

 forced into the hive with the assistance of a pair of bellows, the 

 arrangement of which is shown in Fig. 331. If the fumigation 

 is prolonged, the bees are very soon heard to beat their wings in 

 a peculiar manner ; they are then in what is called in French 

 etat de bruissement, or roaring state. When they stand up on 



* " Physiologic de 1'abeille, suivie de 1'art de soigner et d' exploiter les abeilles, 

 d'apres une methode simple, facile." Paris, 1866. Page 94. 



