THE BEE NATION. 249 



shortest way an otherwise difficult object and one rendered 

 complicated by circumstances, did not escape them. 



The already often-mentioned love of cleanliness is a main 

 characteristic of bees, both in reference to their dwelling 

 and their persons. On entering a new dwelling the first 

 thing they do is to cleanse it in the most careful manner 

 from dust, dirt, wood-shavings, straws, etc. During the 

 winter their body generally becomes covered with yellow- 

 brown grease, which hinders their movements and injures their 

 health. On the first fine day in .spring, therefore, they first 

 clean themselves, partly with their own hands, partly, in 

 places which they cannot reach, by the help of their com- 

 panions, and then, as already said, they cleanse and brush 

 the interior of the hive with wonderful care, throw out old 

 and hardened pollen, carry out mould and dead bees, etc., etc. 

 That they also bury the latter appears from an observation 

 quoted by Watson (loc. cit, p. 453) from the Glasgow Herald 

 ("Notes and Queries," 3rd ser., vol. iii., p. 314). The 

 correspondent writes: " While I was walking with a friend 

 in a garden near Falkirk, we noticed two bees, coming out 

 of a beehive, which were carrying between them the corpse 

 of a dead comrade and flew away with it to about ten yards 

 distance. We followed them and saw them search for a 

 suitable hole at the side of a sandy road, carefully push in 

 the dead body, head foremost, and finally place above it two 

 small stones. They then watched for about a minute before 

 they flew away." 



The correspondent goes on to say that he had never until 

 then had the opportunity of observing the- burial of a bee, 

 but that he had seen a wasp, which had invaded a beehive, 

 after it had been killed, dragged out by the bees and laid 

 down on the other side of a little brick wall, after they had 

 flown over it with the dead body. It is also a very common 

 observation that the bodies of dead bees are not left in the 

 vicinity of the hive, but are carried away to a certain 

 distance. 



Very interesting, and closely connected with this cha- 

 racteristic of cleanliness, is the conduct of the so-called 

 ventilating-bees, which have to take care that in summer or 

 hot weather the air necessary for the respiration of the bees 

 in the interior of the hive is renewed, and the too high tem- 

 perature cooled down. This latter precaution is necessary, not 



