^ III.] THORAX AND ORGANS OF MOTION. loi 



writer has traced their oval form by the aid of Messrs. 

 R. and J. Beck's " Binocular Micro'scope," and exceed- 

 ingly interesting objects they appeared. From- the cir- 

 cumstance of bees breathing through these orifices in 

 their bodies, it will not be difficult to understand how 

 sadly the little creatures must be inconvenienced when 

 by accident they fall on loose mould, and thus have their 

 breathing pores choked with dust ; it also shows how 

 needful it is to prevent bees being besmeared with honey 

 (by using bad appliances for feeding), which is still more 

 injurious to them. The air-vessels are all that they possess 

 of a circulating system, as bees have neither lungs, heart, 

 liver, nor blood. It appears, however, that a white fluid 

 matter, called "chyle," which in degree answers the pur- 

 pose of blood, is produced in the" intestines, nourishes 

 the body, receives the oxygen from the air-vessels, and 

 generates that animal warmth so necessary for the insect's 

 well-being — warmth which, as a matter of course, say 

 Schmid and Kleine in their "Leading Threads," settles 

 that it is incorrect to call the insect a cold-blooded 

 animal. Bees have the power of counteracting super- 

 abundant heat by perspiration. Not unfrequently, on a 

 hot summer's morning, a good deal of moisture may be 

 noticed at the entrance of a crowded hive, which the 

 ■ inmates have been enabled to throw off. This is a 

 healthy sign, because a sign of great numerical strength. 

 The humming sound always to be heard in a beehive is 

 produced by breathing. 



