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 diarrhoea. 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 resembhng dysen- 

 tery or cholera. 



369. In very hot weather, if thin hives are exposed to 



