PHYSIOLOGY. 



bad weather, is a fact beyond denial ; though we 

 know not through the medium of what sense that 

 faculty is exerted. We are often surprised to 

 find, even with a promising appearance of the sky, 

 their labours suddenly cease, and that not a bee 

 stirs out ; or, on the contrary, that those which 

 are abroad, hurry home in such crowds that the 

 door is too small for their admission. But on 

 strictly examining the heavens, we may discern 

 some small and distant clouds, which, insensibly 

 collecting, soon after descend in rain." The Doctor 

 likewise says, that an observant friend of his, 

 foretells with confidence that rain will fall in the 

 course of a few hours, when he finds on a clear 

 summer's morning that his garden is wholly 

 deserted by his neighbour's bees. In this he 

 enjoys an advantage over their real owner, the 

 flowers near the apiary being crowded as usual by 

 these wary foragers. " If," says MR. KIRBY, 

 " they wander far from home, and do not return 

 till late in the evening, it is a prognostic to be 

 depended upon, that the following day will be 

 fine : but if they remain near their habitations, and 

 be seen frequently going and returning, although 

 no indication of wet should be discoverable, clouds 

 will soon arise and rain come on. Ants also are 

 observed to be excellently gifted in this respect : 

 though they daily bring out their larvae to the 

 sun, they are never overtaken by sudden showers." 



