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WHY  DO  BEES  WORK  IN  THE  DARK? 
the  dark  while  others  were  exposed  to  the  light,  when  it  was 
found  that  the  sunned  portion  rapidly  crystallized,  while  the 
honey  kept  in  the  dark  remained  perfectly  liquid.  (2)  "  We 
now  see,"  he  says,  "  why  bees  are  so  careful  to  work  in  perfect 
darkness,  and  why  they  are  so  careful  to  obscure  the  glass  win- 
dows which  are  sometimes  placed  in  their  hives.  The  existence 
of  their  young  depends  on  the  liquidity  of  the  saccharine  food 
presented  to  them,  and  if  light  were  allowed  access  to  this  the 
syrup  would  gradually  acquire  a  more  or  less  solid  consistency ; 
it  would  seal  up  the  cells,  and  in  all  probability  prove  fatal  to 
the  inmates  of  the  hives." 
While  I  was  on  a  visit  to  a  village  on  the  Dorsetshire  coast  at 
the  end  of  July,  1864,  some  new  combs  were  brought  in  contain- 
ing virgin  honey,  when  it  occurred  to  me  to  test  the  observation 
on  which  the  above  theory  is  founded,  and  the  more  so  since  the 
remark  that  "  light  determines  the  formation  of  camphor  and 
iodine  crystals  in  a  bottle,"  I  knew  to  be  erroneous.  Accord- 
ingly, I  collected  a  small  quantity  of  this  new  honey  in  two  bot- 
tles, and  wrapped  one  of  them  in  several  folds  of  stout  paper  and 
left  the  other  exposed.  On  my  return  to  town  early  in  August, 
I  placed  the  bottles  in  an  east  window,  where  they  remained 
many  months  exposed  to  the  cold  of  winter  and  the  sun  of  spring, 
with  the  temperature  often  below  freezing  point,  and  on  warm 
days  above  70°  Fahr.  The  honey  in  both  bottles  remained  quite 
fluid,  and  the  only  change  was  the  deposit  in  each  bottle  of  a  few 
bright  crystalline  grains. 
A  still  more  perfect  experiment  was  made  in  July,  1865.  Be- 
ing in  the  same  Dorsetshire  village  I  procured  some  virgin  comb 
that  had  never  seen  the  light,  squeezed  it  gently  through  clean 
linen,  and  received  the  stream  of  pure,  limpid  honey  into  two 
eight-ounce  white  glass  bottles.  When  these  were  nearly  filled 
the  stoppers  were  inserted,  tied  over,  and  the  bottles  labelled. 
One  was  wrapped  up  in  opaque  paper,  and  the  other  was,'  a  few 
days  afterwards,  exposed  to  the  light  on  a  window  frame,  where 
it  has  remained  ever  since,  exposed  to  the  direct  sunshine  of 
summer,  and  to  the  cold  of  winter ;  but  the  honey,  whether  ex- 
posed to  the  light  or  covered,  remains  perfectly  limpid  after 
about  eight  months. 
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