82 MINER S AMEKICAN 



Come when you will to examine a family of bees, you 

 will ever find, at least, one or more sentinels on duty ; 

 unless it be in cold weather. If the entrance to the 

 hive be small, but a few bees act as guards ; but there 

 they stand, thrusting out their antennae towards any bee 

 that is suspicious ; and let a stranger approach, and 

 there is always some bee on the qui vive to arrest its 

 progress. These sentinels are as regularly relieved as 

 those of an army on duty. 



THE WONDERFUL OPERATIONS OF VENTILATING BEES ! 



Last, not least, is the duty of those bees, that in close 

 sultry weather, ventilate the hive, by causing a current 

 of air to be put in motion, by the vibration of their 

 wings. It has often been a matter of surprise with some 

 people how bees can exist in hives densely populated, 

 and having but a very small entrance, that often appears 

 to be entirely closed by the numerous bees around it, 

 when man finds it difficult to find air for free respiration, 

 during the sultry weather of summer ; and such per- 

 sons have supposed that the bee requires little or no air 

 to successfully prosecute its labors within the hive. If 

 such people could witness the indefatigable labors of a 

 large portion of such famiUes of bees, that night and day 

 toil without cessation, to renovate and purify the air 

 within their hives, their minds would soon be changed, 

 and if they were bee-keepers, measures would at once be 

 taken, to admit a little of the pure air of heaven, that is 

 so very essential to their welfare. I cannot better illus- 

 trate this subject than to give my observations, in a sin- 



