g2 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
will spend the night in carefully stopping them up 
again. In the old bee- -garden we saw the fanning- 
army drawing out the impure air. These bees 
had their heads pointing towards the entrance; 
but, inside the hive, there was another army of 
fanners, facing the opposite way, and thus helping 
to drive the same sidelong current. Throughout 
nearly the whole interior of the hive on hot days 
fanning-bees can be seen, all helping to keep up 
this movement. The result is that the pure air, 
being sucked in at one side of the entrance, flows 
round the hive and travels out at the other side, 
much as a rope goes over a pulley-block. The 
swiftest current of air keeps to the walls and roof 
of the hive, the air in the centre being changed 
more slowly. Thus the honeycombs, which are 
always in the upper,stories, lie in the full stream, 
and the moisture, which the maturing honey is 
continually giving off, is carried rapidly away ; 
while the brood-combs, lying in the lower, central 
part, are ventilated more slowly, the air being 
thoroughly warmed before it reaches them. The 
larger the fanning-army is, the more swiftly flows 
the air, and the faster the heat of the hive is 
carried off. In this way the bees can regulate 
the hive-temperature to the requirements of the 
moment, putting more numerous gangs to work 
in the hottest season, or stopping the fanners alto- 
gether in mid-winter, when the natural, buoyant 
heat-exhalation from the cluster is sufficient to 
