bee-keeper's manual. 531 



bees had no particular use of this passage-way, as they 

 had abundant egress below; yet, it being warm weather, 

 I kept the cover up, as much as possible. It got so 

 loose by turning it up, that it would often fall down of 

 its own gravity ; and not thinking the matter of suffi- 

 cient importance to secure it at once, I turned it up 

 daily, for about a week, and every morning I would find 

 it down again. At last I turned it up, and out rushed 

 about a hundred bees, and commenced clustering around 

 it in a very singular manner, and I left them and went 

 to town. Not returning until evening, I could not see 

 what the result was before the next morning, when I 

 went out to the hive, and found the cover to the open- 

 ing so deeply imbedded in propolis, that it could not be 

 easily removed ! ! It appeared that the bees wished to 

 have this hole open, and finding that it was down one 

 day and up the next one, they thought that they would 

 put a stop to it at once, and they did so. I leave the 

 reader to his own reflections on these instances of sa- 

 gacity manifested in this insect. I could recount many 

 more astonishing operations of the bee, but I am ad- 

 monished to be brief 



LONGEVITY OF BEES. 



The age of workers is generally under one year. This 

 fact is easily proved, by placing a family in a large hive, 

 that does not admit of swarms issuing. It will contain 

 no more bees during the succeeding years, than during 

 the first season, or but a few more, at most. Numbers 

 equalling the increase of each season die off before 

 15 



