228 



Bees Swarming. 



Vol. IX. 



nal air; the quantity of inspired oxygen in- 

 creases with the loss of heat by external 

 cooling, and tiie quantity of carbon or hy- 

 drogen necessary to combine with this oxy- 

 gen must be increased in the same ratio. 



It is evident that the supply of the heat 

 lost by cooling, is eifected by the mutual 

 action of the elements of the food and the 

 inspired oxygen, which combine together. 

 To make use of a familiar, but not on that 

 account a less just illustration, the animal 

 body acts, in this respect, as a furnace, w hich 

 we supply with fuel. It signifies nothing 

 what intermediate forms food may assume, 

 what changes it may undergo in the body, 

 the last change is uniformly the conversion 

 of its carbon into carbonic acid, and of its 

 hydrogen into water. The unassimilated 

 nitrogen of the food, along with the un- 

 burned or unoxidized carbon, is expelled in 

 the urine or in the solid excrements. In 

 order to keep up in the furnace a constant 

 temperature, we must vary the supply of 

 fuel according to the external temperature, 

 that is, according to the supply of oxygen. 



In the animal body the food is the luel; 

 with a proper supply of oxygen we obtain 

 the heat given out during its oxidation or 

 combustion. In winter, when we take ex- 

 ercise in a cold atmosphere, and when, con- 

 sequently, the amount of inspired oxygen 

 increases, the necessity for food containing 

 carbon and hydrogen increases in the same 

 ratio ; and by gratifying the appetite thus 

 excited, we obtain the most efficient protec- 

 tion against the most piercing cold. A 

 starving man is soon frozen to death. The 

 animals of prey in the arctic regions, as 

 every one knows, far exceed in voracity 

 those of the torrid zone. — Liebig's Letters. 

 (To be continued.) 



Bees Swarminj 



Bees when swarming, are generally peace- 

 able, and if treated gently, may be hived 

 without danger or difficulty. A remarkable 

 instance of their inoffensivness at this time 

 is related by J\Tr. Thorley. Wanting to dis- 

 lodge a swarm from the branches of a cod- 

 lin tree, he placed the hive in the hands of 

 his maid-servant, who being a novice, co- 

 vered her head and shoulders with a cloth 

 to guard her face; on shaking the tree, most 

 of the bees alighted on the cloth, and quick- 

 ly crept under it, covering the girl's breast 

 and neck up to her very chin. Mr. Thorley 

 impressed her with the importance of nei- 

 ther flinching from nor buffeting the bees, 

 and began immediatply to search for the 

 queen ;"which on finding, he gently seized 

 and removed, but without effecting a dis- 



lodgement of the swarm : thus disappoint- 

 ed, he suspected that there was a second 

 queen, which actually proved to be the 

 case. On securing and placing her in the 

 hive, with a portion of the bees, the rest fol- 

 lowed in multitudes, till in two or three 

 minutes not one bee remained upon the girl, 

 who was thus released from her state of ap- 

 prehension and alarm without feeling the 

 point of a single sting. 



The following is extracted from M. Lom- 

 bard : "A young girl of my acquaintance 

 was greatly afraid of bees, but was com- 

 pletely cured of her fear by the following 

 incident. A swarm having come off, I ob- 

 served the queen alight by herself at a little 

 distance from the apiary. I immediately 

 called my little friend that I might show 

 her the queen; she wished to see her more 

 nearly, so after having caused her to put on 

 her gloves, I gave the queen into her hand. 

 We were in an instant surrounded by the 

 whole bees of the svvarm. In this emer- 

 gency I encouraged the girl to be stendy, 

 bidding her be silent and fear nothing, and 

 remaining myself close by her; I then made 

 her stretch out her right h-md, which held 

 the queen, and covered her head and shoul- 

 ders with a very thin handkerchief. The 

 swarm soon fixed on her hand and hung 

 from it, as from the branch of a tree. The 

 little girl was delighted above measure at 

 the novel sight, and so entirely freed from 

 all fear, that she bade me uncover her face. 

 The spectators were charmed with the in- 

 teresting spectacle. At length I brought a 

 hive, and shaking the swarm from the child's 

 hand, it was lodged in safety, and without 

 inflicting a single wound." 



All persons similarly situated, may not be 

 so fortunate, as, notwithstanding the great- 

 est precaution, bees may be provoked to 

 draw their swords. Dr. Evans relates a 

 case of this kind: a swarm having settled 

 on the branch of a larch-tree, and its long 

 tufts of narrow leaves flapping the bees as 

 the bough was shaken, the woman who 

 hived them received above thirty stings. 



If the .weather be windy at the tmie of 

 swarming, they are often irritable, and apt 

 to sling; and though clustered, will fre- 

 quently return home: this last occurrence 

 is generally caused by the ab.~ence of a 

 queen, but it may also be produced by a 

 sudden shower, or the transit of a dark 

 cloud. In these cases the swarming is 

 merely deferred. 



A queen has sometimes a defect in her 

 wings, or is disabled by some accident: ei- 

 ther of these misfortunes may cause the 

 return of a swarm, or produce symptoms of 

 discontent after hiving. Should such symp- 



