178 THE BEE-HIVES. 
neither too warm nor too cold, they are almost dormant, 
and require very little air; but even under such circum- 
stances, they cannot live entirely without it; and if they are 
excited by atmospheric changes, or in any way disturbed, a 
loud humming may be heard in the interior of their hives, 
and they need almost as much air as in warm weather. 
(621.) 
367. If bees are greatly disturbed, it will be unsafe, es- 
pecially in warm weather, to confine them, unless they have 
a very free admission of air; and even then, unless it is ad- 
mitted above, as well as below the mass of bees, the venti- 
lators may become clogged with dead bees, and the colony 
perish. Bees under close confinement become excessively 
heated, and their combs are often melted; if dampness is 
added to the injurious influence of bad air, they become 
diseased ; and large numbers, if not the whole colony, may 
perish from diarrhoea. Is it not under precisely such cir- 
cumstances that cholera and dysentery prove most fatal to 
human beings? the filthy, damp, and unventilated abodes 
of the abject poor, becoming perfect lazar-houses to their 
wretched inmates. 
368. We have several times examined the bees of new 
swarms which were brought to our Apiary, so closely con- 
fined, that they had died of suffocation. In each instance, 
their bodies were distended with a yellow and noisome sub- 
stance, as though they had perished from diarrhea. <A few 
were still alive, and although the colony had been shut up 
only a few hours, the bodies of both the living and the dead 
were filled with this same disgusting fluid, instead of the 
honey they had when they swarmed. 
In a medical point of view, these facts are highly inter- 
esting ; showing as they do, under what circumstances, and 
how speedily, diseases may be produced resembling dysen- 
tery or cholera. 
869. In very hot weather, if thin hives are exposed to 
