INSECTS PRODUCING WAX, RESIN, HONEY, MANNA. 83 



The hives are placed in it with the utmost care, 

 avoiding as much as possible motion and noise. 

 Their sides are protected with boards and straw, and 

 the whole is then covered with the earth removed in 

 digging the ditch. Seeds are immediately sown 

 over the spot, to hide more completely the buried 

 treasure. The excavation is opened on the 15th of 

 February following, and the bees removed with the 

 same care as before. These operations are executed 

 in the evening. 



By this system, it appears that the bees con- 

 sume three-fifths less nourishment than if they had 

 not been buried, the mortality in the hives is almost 

 nil, and the queen begins to lay three weeks sooner 

 than usual. I should imagine that porous ground 

 should be chosen in preference to a heavy clay soil, 

 for burying the hives. 



Mr. Newport in his paper published in the 

 "Philosophical Transactions" for 1837, has proved 

 that in our climate bees are never, strictly speaking, 

 torpid during the winter season, but preserve 

 throughout it a certain degree of activity. 



Towards the end of October, when the inunda- 

 tions of the Nile have ceased, and the peasants can 

 sow their land, sainfoin (Hedysarum) is one of the 

 first plants sown, and as Upper Egypt is warmer 

 than Lower Egypt sainfoin flowers first in the former 

 district. At this time, according to Kirby, bee- 



