PHYSIOLOGY. 273 



cretion seems to be obscure : it is evident, how- 

 ever, that secretions do take place ; for silk, wax, 

 and poison are all the results of that process. 

 The first of these substances is only secreted by 

 the bee when in its larva state. I must refer 

 those who wish for information respecting silk, to 

 those naturalists who have written on the silk- 

 worm. The secretion of wax I shall treat of 

 hereafter in a distinct chapter ; and it will be 

 better perhaps to speak of Poison, after describing 

 the sting and its appurtenances. There is one se- 

 cretion however, on which I will say a few words 

 in this place, viz. Perspiration. 



PERSPIRATION. 



The temperature of insects not gregarious, is 

 generally that of the medium they inhabit ; but 

 bees possess the power not only of preserving a 

 high temperature during the coldest months of 

 winter, but of raising that temperature under par- 

 ticular circumstances. DR. DARWIN has observed 

 that they generate heat by a general motion of 

 their legs, as they hang clustered together in the 

 hives : HUBER thinks that it may be increased by 

 the agitation of their wings ; whatever disturbs 

 them so as to cause a tumult invariably produces 

 a considerable accession of heat. INCH, a German, 

 plunged a thermometer into a bee-hive in the 

 winter, and saw the mercury stand 27 degrees higher 



