TEMPERATURE OF THE HONEYBEE CLUSTER IN WINTER. 13 



In the case of colonies on good stores (e. g., colony 1) the feces 

 accumulate more slowly and the excess activity is not so marked and 

 is induced more gradually. The accumulation of feces due to con- 

 finement causes increased activity and this in turn is the cause of 

 excessive heat production, resulting in a reduction in the vitality of 

 the bees. 



It therefore follows that excessive activity causes the consumption 

 of more food, resulting in turn in more feces, so that colonies on 

 poor stores are traveling in a vicious circle, which, if the feces can 

 not be discharged, results in the death of the colony. In the work 

 here recorded no attention was paid to the theory that dysentery is 

 due to an infection, since there is nothing in the observations made 

 that lends any support to that idea. If there is more than one kind 

 of dysentery, as has been held, then the observations here recorded 

 must be considered as applying only to the type which can be in- 

 duced at will in any confined colony by giving poor food and which, 

 as has been long recognized, can be relieved at once by an opportu- 

 nity for flight. 



While the activity of the cluster is greater at some times than at 

 others, there are not, as has been held, regular intervals of activity 

 at which the colony rouses itself to take food. At no time is a colony 

 kept at a room temperature of 45° F. or less in a condition which 

 can be characterized as inactive. Presumably the reported " inter- 

 vals of activity " have occurred when the colony made a noise due 

 to disturbance by the beekeeper. 



The bees in colony 3 were compelled to work constantly to main- 

 tain so high a cluster temperature. In fact, they did more work 

 than colonies wintered in the open air. Keeping these bees in a cel- 

 lar protected them from low outside temperatures, but the lack of 

 opportunity for a normal ejection of feces caused a condition more 

 serious than extreme cold weather. We seem to have here an expla- 

 nation of the fact, often observed by beekeepers, that some colonies 

 wintered in the cellar are in worse condition in the spring than col- 

 onies that are exposed to severe cold. Poor food is evidently a more 

 serious handicap than low temperature. 



. METHODS OF HEAT PRODUCTION AND CONSERVATION. 



A colony of bees in cold weather forms a compact, approximately 

 spherical cluster, but this cluster is not, as is usually believed, uni- 

 formly compact. In order to study the formation of the cluster and 

 as an aid to interpreting the temperature records in terms of action, 

 a colony (C) was placed out of doors in a narrow hive with double- 

 glass sides and top, and the stores were so arranged that the only 

 space available for the formation of the cluster was next to the glass 

 on one side, where it could be kept under direct observation. Since 



