Bees become partially torpid during cold weather, consuming much less food than they would otherwise require. They are readily aroused from this state, however, as may at any time be proved by tapping on a bee-hive, when it will be found that the temperature of the interior of the hive rises rapidly. Respiration is considerably lessened in the state of partial torpidity, and the temperature rises when it is resumed. The respiration of bees takes place by air-tubes or trachea! (see INSECTS). and is very active when the insect is in a state of activity. The respiratory move ments are easily seen in looking at a bee. The consumption of oxygen by this pro cess might be expected soon to reduce the atmosphere within a hive to a state in which it could no longer support animal life; but in summer, when respiration is active and the hive populous, a constant circulation of air is maintained by the insects themselves, some of which are employed in a rapid vibration of their wings for this purpose. A greater or smaller number of them, according to circumstances, may frequently be seen thus engaged in fanning the air at the mouth of a bee-hive.
It may well be deemed an extraordinary fact, that among the enemies of bees arc to be reckoned certain species of moth, which, notwithstanding the danger of the stings of the bees, enter the hives and deposit their eggs. After the eggs are hatched, the hum feed upon the combs. Mice sometimes eat their way into the hives in sviUer, and destroy and plunder unmolested.
Bees are sometimes very destructive to each other in their combats, as when one B. community is assailed by others for the purpose of plunder. To this the weaker communities are liable, particularly when flowers are few, and bees are awakened to full activity in the warm days of early spring. The narrower that the entrances of bee-hives are at this season, at least of the less populous hives, the less likely is the B. owner to suffer loss from this cause, as the narrow entrance is' more easily defended even against very numerous invaders.
Management of Bees.—iVc do not think it necessary to enter largely into the sub ject of apiculture—the cultivation or management of bees.
It Is. of course, necessary that the apiary or stock of bee-hives should be situated in a neighborhood where flowers sufficiently abound for the supply of honey. It is, however, by no means certain to what distance bees roam. Some authors mention one mile as the probable distance; but the opinion has apparently been hazarded on mere conjecture, and there seem to be good reasons for supposing that a much greater distance might more correctly be named. But whatever distance bees may be capable of traveling in quest of honey, it is undoubtedly of great importance that they should have good feeding-ground in the immediate neighborhood of the apiary; and in many parts of the world, the practice prevails of removing them from place to place, according to the season, in order that advantage may be taken of the greatest abundance of tlowers. Thus in the s. of Scotland, bee-hives are very frequently
removed to heath-covered tracts in the beginning of August, and remain there till the heath is out of flower; and this affords in many parts of the country the most plentiful honey-harvest, although in other parts, especially where white clover abounds, the greatest quantity of honey is obtained earlier in suminer. The difference between heather honey and/torer honey is well known in Edinburgh. No small number of bee hives from that city and its immediate vicinity are annually conveyed for a few weeks to the Pentland hills. The conveyance of bees " to the heather" is generally accom plished either by a handbarrow or a spring-cart of easy motion, so that the combs may not be displaced by shaking; and the mouth of the hive is carefully closed with a plate of perforated zinc, or other contrivance for keeping in the bees and permitting circula tion of air. Fifty or one hundred bee-hives may often be seen collected in oue place, and under the care of one person, during the heather season.—In Egypt, far greater numbers of hives of apix faseiata), are often kept in a single vessel on the Nile, and are conveyed from place to place on the river, according to the succession of flowers in the different districts. A somewhat similar practice prevails on the Rhone; and the trans porting of bees (apis ligastieo) from pasture to pasture has been usual in Greece, in Asia Minor, and in Persia, from remote antiquity.
As to the form of bee-hives,and the material of which they should be made, there are great differences both of opinion and practice. Glass hives, and hives with glass win dows, which can be covered at pleasure with wooden slides, are etnployed by those who wish to observe tire movements and habits of bees; but for profitable purposes, wood and straw are in Britain the only materials in common use. For the material of a hive, wood has the advantage over straw iu its greater neatness and durability; but there is a disadvantage iu the greater likelihood that, unless shaded from the sun, portions of the comb may be so' moth melted as to fall in hot weather. In some parts of Europe, cylimhical cork-hives are much used, made by removing the wood of a portion of the cork-tree, and leaving the bark uninjured; and hives of earthenware are common ill Greece and Turkey. The form of hives is of little consequence; but it is important that the owner should have facilities for giving increased room both above and below the stock-hive: increased room above is required for the reception of pure honey-comb unmixed with brood, and the capability of adding to the hive below, by raising it up an additional story, is often requisite to prevent swarming, which is incompatible with the collection of a large store of surplus honey.