THE HONEY-BEE. 
51 
Chester in the province of New York, was put into 
a hive and removed to the place where it was to 
remain. Nest morning the Bees were found dead, 
swelled to double their natural size, and black, 
except a few which appeared torpid and feeble, and 
soon died on exposure to the air.” This was attri- 
buted to their being poisoned, not by their having 
fed upon, but by the effluvia of the Ithus Yernis. 
Hearing . — Considerable difference of opinion has 
prevailed amongst Naturalists, both as to the exist- 
ence of this sense in Bees, and the situation of 
the organ, Aristotle was doubtful whether Bees 
possess this sense : “ Incertum est, an audiant.” 
Linnteus and Bonnet denied them the faculty, and 
Huber seems undecided on the point ; while a host 
of others, among whom are ranked Kirby and 
Spence, maintain its existence, and place the organ 
in the antennte. We know that the Bees dislike 
noise, for an apiarj' situated near mills, smithies, or 
other noisy work-shops, is seldom prosperous. The 
different modulations of sound produced by the wings 
in flying, seem intended as means of communication 
addressed to an organ of hearing, as signals of attack, 
of recal, of departure, &c. In consequence of a 
belief in the reality of this sense in Bees, the practice 
is common of beating sonorous bodies at the moment 
of swarming, in order to prevent them from com- 
municating with one another, and thus to present 
an obstacle to their flying away. We know also 
that many other insects possess this faculty ; and, as 
we observe in the proceedings of Bees, the same 
