VENTILATION. 127 



swarm may perish. Under close confinement, the bees 

 become excessively heated, and the combs are often melted 

 down. When bees are confined to a close atmosphere, 

 especially if dampness is added to its injurious influences, 

 they are sure to become diseased ; and large numbers, if not 

 the whole colony, perish from dysentery. Is it not under 

 circumstances precisely similar, that cholera and dysentery 

 prove most fatal to human beings ? How often do the filthy, 

 damp and unventilated abodes of the abject poor, become 

 perfect lazar-houses to their wretched inmates ? 



I examined, last Summer, the bees of a new swarm which 

 had been suffocated for want of air, and found their bodies 

 distended with a yellow and noisome substance, just as 

 though they had perished from dysentery. A few were still 

 alive, and instead of honey, their bodies were filled with 

 this same disgusting fluid ; though the bees had not been 

 shut up, more than two hours. 



In a medical point of view, I consider these facts as highly 

 interesting ; showing as they do, under what circumstances, 

 and how speedily, diseases may be produced. > 



^ In very hot weather, if thin hives are exposed to the sun's 

 rays, the bees are excessively annoyed by the intense heat, 

 and have recourse to the most powerful ventilation, not 

 merely to keep the air of the hive pure, but to carry* off, as 

 much as possible, its internal \^rmth. They often leave 

 the interior of the hire, almost in a body, and in thick mas- 

 ses, cluster on the outside, not simply to escape the close 

 heat within, but to guard their combs against the danger of 

 being dissolved. At such times they are particularly care- 

 lul not to cluster on the combs containing sealed honey ; for 

 as most of these combs have not been lined with the cocoons 

 of the larvse, they are, for this reason, as well as on account 

 of the extra amount of wax used for their covers, much 

 more liable to be melted, than the breeding cells. 



