13 6 Mr. Hunter's Observations on Bees , 
was become quite empty of bees, and upon examination had no 
honey in it, which was strong in the summer, and had violent 
attacks made upon it in October by w asps belonging to a nest 
in the garden, but appeared quiet when that nest was removed. 
Upon examining this hive, I found only five dead bees, and not 
a drop of honey in any one cell : there was a good deal of 
bee bread in different cells scattered up and down the comb, 
which was become white with mould on its surface. On the 
other hand, I have had swarms die in the winter in the hives, 
while there was great plenty of honey in the combs : what 
seemed remarkable, they all died with their probosces elon- 
gated, and in those which I opened, I found the stomachs full 
of honey, and their intestines full also of excrement, especially 
the last part. 
Of the Heat of Bees. 
Bees are, perhaps, the only insect that produces heat within 
itself, and were therefore intended to have a tolerably well- 
regulated warmth, without which, of course, they are very un- 
comfortable, and soon die; and which makes not only a part 
of their internal (Economy respecting the individual, but a part 
of their external, or common oeconomy, and is therefore neces- 
sary to be known. The heat of bees is ascertainable by the 
thermometer, and I shall give the result of experiments made 
at two different seasons of the year. 
July 18th, at ten in the evening, wind northerly, thermo- 
meter at 54 0 , in the open air, 1 introduced it into the top of a 
hive full of bees, and in less than five minutes it rose to 82°. 
I let it stand all night ; £t five in the morning it was down at 
