132 THE BEE EEEPBk'S MANUAL. 



larvae developed. A fine netting of air-vessels covers the 

 eggs ; and the cells of the larvae are sealed over with a cov- 

 ering which is full of air holes. In Winter, as has been 

 stated in the Chapter on Protection, bees, if kept in the 

 dark, and neither too warm nor too cold, are almost dor- 

 mant, and seem to require but a small allowance of air ; 

 but even under such circumstances, they cannot live entire- 

 ly without air; and if they are excited by being exposed to 

 atmospheric changes, or by being disturbed, a very loud 

 humming may be heard in the interior of their hives, and 

 they need quite as much air as in warm weather. 



If at any time, by moving their hives, or in any other 

 way, bees are greatly disturbed, it will be unsafe to con- 

 fine them, especially in warm weather, unless a very free 

 admission of air is given to them, and even then, the air 

 ought to be admitted above, as well as below the mass of 

 bees, or the ventilators may become clogged with dead bees, 

 and the swarm may perish. Under close confinement, 

 the bees become excessively heated, and the combs are 

 often melted down. When bees are confined to a close 

 atmosphere, especially if dampness is added to its injurious 

 influences, they are sure to become diseased ; and large 

 numbers, if not the whole colony, perish from dysentery. 

 Is it not under circumstances precisely similar, that cholera 

 and dysentery prove most fatal to human beings ? How often 

 do the filthy, damp and unventilated abodes of the abject 

 poor, become perfect lazar-houses to their wretched inmates .' 



I examined, last Summer, the bees of a new swarm 

 which had been suffocated for want of air, and found their 

 bodies distended with a yellow and noisome substance, just 

 as though they had perished from dysentery. A few were 

 still alive, and instead of honey, their bodies were filled with 

 this same disgusting flu;d ; though the bees had not been 

 shut up, more than two hours. 



