VENTILATION. 91 



combs against the danger of being, dissolved. • At such ' 

 times, they are particularly careful not to cluster on new 

 combs containing sealed honey, which, from not being lined 

 with cocoons, and from the extra amount of wax used for 

 their covers, melt more readily than the breeding-cells. 



Apiarians have noticed that bees ojften leave their 

 honey-ceUs almost bare, as soon as they are sealed ; but it 

 seems to have escaped their observation, that this is abso- 

 lutely necessary in very hot weather. In cool weather, 

 they may frequently be found clustered among the sealed 

 honey-combs, because there is then no danger of their 

 melting. 



Few things are so well fitted to impress the mind with 

 their admirable sagacity, as the truly scientific device by 

 which they ventilate their dwellings. In this important 

 matter, the bee is immensely in advance of the great mass 

 of those who are called rational beings. It has, to be 

 sure, no ability to decide, fi-om an elaborate analysis of the 

 chemical constituents of the atmosphere, how large a pro- 

 portion of oxygen is essential to the support of life, and 

 how rapidly the process of breathing converts it into a 

 deadly poison : it oarmot, like Liebig, demonstrate that 

 God, by setting the animal and the vegetable world, the 

 one over against the other, has provided that the atmos- 

 phere shall, through aU ages, be as pure as when it first 

 came from His creating hand. But shame upon us ! that 

 with all our boasted intelligence, most of us Uve as though, 

 pure air was of little or no importance; whUe the bee 

 ventilates with a philosophical precision, that should put to 

 the blush our criminal neglect. 



Is it said that ventilation, in our case, cannot be had 

 without effoi-t? can it then be had for nothing, by the 

 industrious bees ? Those ranks of bees, so indefatigably 

 plying their busy wings, are not engaged in idle amuse- 



