Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/55

 Chester in the province of New York, was put into a hive and removed to the place where it was to remain. Next 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 attributed to their being poisoned, not by their having fed upon, but by the effluvia of the Rhus Vernix.

Hearing.—Considerable difference of opinion has prevailed amongst Naturalists, both as to the existence of this sense in Bees, and the situation of the organ. Aristotle was doubtful whether Bees possess this sense: "Incertum est, an audiant." Linnæus 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 antennæ. We know that the Bees dislike noise, for an apiary 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 communicating 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