68 The Honey-Makers 



This is accomplished by the bees themselves, who take 

 turns standing near the entrance and fanning with their 

 wings. The low hum of these living ventilating fans can 

 be heard outside the hive, and particularly on warm close 

 days when it is more difficult to supply the needs of the 

 crowded tenement. 



So powerful is the draught from the wings of a fanning 

 bee that it can be distinctly felt as a light cool breeze against 

 the cheek when a captive bee performs this office. A 

 piece of tissue-paper two inches square has been raised 

 entirely free from the gauze covering to the little box in 

 which bee-keepers send queen-bees by mail, by the fanning 

 of a single bee ; and when a dozen or more bees have a 

 fanning party in the box they produce quite a little 

 hurricane. 



Captive bees will sometimes fan for a long time, appar- 

 ently for the pure pleasure of the exercise. They seem 

 attacked by an ecstasy of fanning, and for the time are 

 interested in nothing else. The writer of these chronicles 

 has frequently held a pencil between the wings of a fanning 

 bee, which stopped operations while it remained there, 

 but the instant the pencil was removed the wings started 

 again as if run by machinery. 



When fanning, the abdomen is raised, the head lowered, 

 and the bee clings fast with its feet, moving slightly from 

 side to side, or turning partly around. 



It sometimes presents the appearance of performing a 

 solemn dance, though the solemnity of the occasion is 

 considerably marred by the wings that move so rapidly 

 they irresistibly suggest a short gauze ballet skirt. 



The bee's method of ventilation, driving both ])ure and 

 impure air through one opening at the bottom of the 

 apartment, and their brilliant success in accomplishing their 



