92 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 



will spend the night in carefully stopping them up 

 again. In the old bee-garden we saw the fanning- 

 army drawing out the impure air. These bees 

 had their heads pointing towards the entrance ; 

 but, inside the hive, there was another army of 

 fanners, facing the opposite way, and thus helping 

 to drive the same sidelong current. Throughout 

 nearly the whole interior of the hive on hot days 

 fanning-bees can be seen, all helping to keep up 

 this movement. The result is that the pure air, 

 being sucked in at one side of the entrance, flows 

 round the hive and travels out at the other side, 

 much as a rope goes over a pulley-block. The 

 swiftest current of air keeps to the walls and roof 

 of the hive, the air in the centre being changed 

 more slowly. Thus the honeycombs, which are 

 always in the upper stories, lie in the full stream, 

 and the moisture, which the maturing honey is 

 continually giving off, is carried rapidly away ; 

 while the brood-combs, lying in the lower, central 

 part, are ventilated more slowly, the air being 

 thoroughly warmed before it reaches them. The 

 larger the fanning-army is, the more swiftly flows 

 the air, and the faster the heat of the hive is 

 carried ofl". In this way the bees can regulate 

 the hive-temperature to the requirements of the 

 moment, putting more numerous gangs to work 

 in the hottest season, or stopping the fanners alto- 

 gether in mid-winter, when the natural, buoyant 

 heat-exhalation from the cluster is sufficient to 



