CHAPTER IX. 



VENTILATION OF THE HIVE. 



If a populous hive is examined on a warm Summer day, 

 a considerable number of bees will be found standing on 

 the alighting board, with their heads turned towards the 

 entrance, the extremity of their bodies slightly elevated, and 

 their wings in such rapid motion that they are almost as in- 

 distinct as the spokes of a wheel, in swift rotation on 

 its axis. A brisk current of air may be felt proceeding 

 from the hive, and if a small piece of down be suspended 

 by a thread, it will be blown out from one part of the en- 

 trance, and drawn in at another. What are these bees 

 expecting to accomplish, that they appear so deeply ab- 

 sorbed in their fanning occupation, while busy numbers are 

 constantly crowding in and out of the hive .-' and what is the 

 meaning of this double current of air > To Huber, we owe 

 the first satisfactory explanation of these curious phenom- 

 ena. These bees plying their rapid wings in such a singular 

 attitude, are performing the important business of ventila- 

 ting the hive ; and this double current is composed of pure 

 air rushing in at one part, to supply the place of the foul air 

 forced out at another. By a series of the most careful and 

 beautiful experiments, Huber ascertained that the air of a 

 crowded hive is almost, if not quite, as pure as the atmos- 

 phere by whfch it is surrounded. Nowj as the entrance to 



