306 
MR. NEWPORT ON THE TEMPERATURE OF INSECTS. 
is passed into the hive arises from the bees flocking around it, and it is also a proof 
that the natural temperature of these insects in a state of excitement may be raised 
to 20° Fahr. above that of the medium in which they are living, as shown in the ob- 
servations on the Humble Bees. But this variation in the amount of temperature in 
different parts of the hive does not very much affect our means of judging of the 
average amount of the temperature of the hive at different periods when the thermo- 
meter remains entirely undisturbed, because it is found that when the temperature 
of the air is examined at about the same hour of the day, on two or more success- 
ive days, and all other circumstances being nearly the same, there will be but little 
variation in the average amount of temperature ; so that we find the temperature of 
the hive, at the period of swarming, amounts to about 96° Fahr., while in the month 
of August it is seldom more than 80° Fahr., or perhaps 86°, even in the middle of 
the day, when the temperature of the atmosphere is often more than 78° Fahr. The 
cause of this difference between the amount of heat in the hive at this period and in 
the time of swarming is readily explained by reference to the facts connected with 
the production of heat. Less heat is in reality produced from the same volume of 
air consumed at the high temperature of 78° Fahr. than when the atmosphere is not 
more than 66° Fahr., as is often the case at the period of swarming, while in reality 
a far less volume of air is consumed in August than in May, because the bees are not 
in the same state of excitement. These facts readily account for the diminished tem- 
perature of the hive in the month of August, when the temperature of the atmosphere 
is in general higher than when the bees are most active. 
During the period of swarming in 1 836 1 availed myself of the opportunity afforded 
me by the annular eclipse of the sun on the afternoon of the 15th of May, of watch- 
ing the effect of diminished light and atmospheric temperature on the temperature 
of my hives, and the activity of their inhabitants, and found, as shown in the accom- 
panying Table, that in proportion to the diminution of light the hives became quiet, 
and the temperature of the hives decreased until after the eclipse had passed its 
maximum, when as the light began again to increase, the activity of the hives became 
restored, and with it a considerable increase of heat. 
