Note N — LETTER XIII. ECONOMICAL CONSIDERATIONS ON BEES.

So far from being torpid in winter, when the thermometer in the open air is several degrees below freezing, it stands at (86) and (88°), in hives sufficiently populous. The bees then cluster together, and move to preserve their heat.

Now that I am on the subject of thermometrical observations, I may cursorily remark, that M. Dubois of Bourg en Bresse, in a memoir otherwise valuable, is of opinion, that the larvæ cannot be hatched below (104). I have repeatedly made the experiment with the most accurate thermometers, and obtained a very different result. When the thermometer rises to (104°), the heat is so much greater than the eggs require, that it is intolerable to the bees. M. Dubois has been deceived, I imagine, by too suddenly introducing his thermometer into a cluster of bees, and putting them in agitation, the mercury has rose higher than it should naturally do. Had he delayed introducing the thermometer, he would soon have seen it fall to between 95 and 97, which is the usual temperature of hives in summer. In August this year, when the thermometer in the open air stood at 94, it did not rise above 99 in the most populous hives. The bees had little motion, and a great many rested on the board of the hive.