24 miner's AMERICAN 



and a few, in the face of the approaching storm, darted 

 forth to the fields again. 



This state of things lasted forty minutes, with suffi- 

 cient rain to have given every bee full warning, even 

 were they both blind and deaf. 



Even the most distant bees, I considered within the 

 reach of the rain, and I supposed, that in fifteen minutes 

 from the commencement of the shower, every bee would 

 have been in ; but such was not the fact. They con- 

 tinued to pour in during the whole of the forty minutes ; 

 then the winds commenced blowing furiously, and the 

 rain fell fast ; I took an umbrella, and standing in the 

 midst of the apiary, beheld the bees beating in against 

 winds and rain, until the water came in such torrents, 

 that a perfect sheet encompassed me ; and at this junc- 

 ture, several bees on their return, finding it impossible 

 to gain their hives, came under my umbrella for protec- 

 tion. Every bee that was out at that crisis, must have 

 been dashed to the ground, unless they sought refuge on 

 the nearest thing that came in their way. 



This observation proved that bees can fly a conside- 

 rable distance to their homes, while the rain literally 

 poui^ down. Before the last heavy dash to which I re- 

 fer above, 1 noticed the bees coming in very slowly in- 

 deed, for the rain came down in torrents ; yet they did 

 slowly make headway through it. Their speed, as they 

 approached ^he apiary, was much slower than a man 

 usually walks ; and I presume, that- it would have been 

 impossible for them to have proceeded much farther. 



This observation also shows liow indefatigable they 



