one little chamlser, and in their ignorance aednlously blocking ap 

 every chink through which a puff of pure air, or, as they call it, 

 " draught," may come ; so their lungs are as ill fed as the rest 

 of their bodies, and they die speedily. The bees are not nearly 

 so stupid as the tailors and seamstresses : instinct tells them 

 that pure air means Ufe, and to the best of their limited means 

 they strive for it. Their wings, united the back to the front 

 BO as to form a fan, are used as ventilators. The operation of 

 expelling the vitiated air and preserving a cool current 

 through the establishment is thus described by an observant 

 naturalist : — " By means of their marginal hooks they unite 

 each pair of wings into one plane slightly concave ; thus acting 

 upon the air by a surface nearly as large as possible, and 

 forming for them a pair of very ample fans, which, in their 

 vibrations, describe an arch of ninety degrees. These vibrations 

 are so rapid as to render the wings almost invisible. During 

 the summer, a certain number of workers — ^for it is to the 

 workers solely that this office is committed — ^may always be 

 observed vibrating their wings before the entrance of their 

 liive; and the observant apiarist will find upon examination 

 that a still greater number are engaged within it in the same 

 employment. The station of these ventilators is upon the floor 

 of the hive. They are usually ranged in files that terminate 

 at the entrance ; and sometimes, but not constantly, form so 

 many diverging avenues probably to give room for comers and 

 goers to pass. The number of ventilators in action at the 

 same time varies ; it seldom much exceeds twenty, and is often 

 more circumscribed. The time also that they devote to this 

 fanction is longer or shorter, according to circumstances. Some 

 have been observed to continue their vibrations for nearly half 

 an hour without resting, suspending the action for not more 

 than an instant, as it should seem, to take breath. When one 

 retires, another occupies its place ; so that in a hive well peo- 

 pled there is never any interruption' of the sound or humming 

 occasioned by this action, by which it may always be known 

 whether it is going on or not." 



The abdomen of the bee contains the honey-bag, the stomach 

 the wax-bag, the venom-bag, and the sting. The honey-bag, 

 though sometimes called the first stomach, is not used for the 

 purposes of digestion ; it is a small bag, about the size of a 

 pea, with two pouches behind, and is properly only an enlarge- 

 ment of the gullet. This receptacle receives the honey from 

 the proboscis ; a small passage leads from thence to the stomach. 



