The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1897-12-01
BEE A WEATHER PROPHET.
She Has Sources of knowledge Which
Man Cannot FathOm.

She Has Sources of knowledge Which
Man Cannot FathOm.
The question whether various in
sects and animals have the powers pop
ularly attributed to them of knowing
in advance what the weather is going to
be, and in particular of predicting the
severity of the coming winter, has fire.
quentiy been discussed. A correspond
emit of Cosmos, NJ. P. de Ridder. writes
to that journal that he believes the bee
to possess this power beyond doubt,
and he proceeds to give his reasons for
that belief. We translate his letter De-
low. Says NJ. de Ridder:
Everyone knows that at the APP
proach of winter certain birds leave
northern regions and fly southwark,
seeking under a warmer sky refuge
against the cold and rigors of the north
But everyone does not know of tho
admirable foresight shown by the bee
about the time of the earliest cold
weather. 1t also feels the approach OF
winter; nay, more, the bee seems 10
understand a long time in advance
whether the winter is to be mild or Sc
J
the bee there is this difference: the
former are driven away by the cold and
the bad weather from the regions where
they are; the latter are guided by a
special instinct of foresight, an instinct
which I make bold to call the bees
meteorology.
But the bee does not know how to
flee before the approach of the winter,
and cannot do so; he cannot abandon
the store so laboriously laid up during
the fine weather; he cannot leave the
hive where he has put away the neces-
sites of life for the coming winter.
MANY times have l witnessed the
vigilance and foresight of the bee.
Forty years ago bee-keepers were still
using the old miter-shaped straw hives
with two openings or entrances. Well,
I noticed that about the beginning Of
October the bees stopped up these two
entrances with wax, so as to leave pas
sage for only one bee at time, thus CIV
ing lesson to the bee keeper who had
neglected to put a board over the en-
frances to prevent the introduction OF
cold air.
Certain persons think that the bee
plasters up these openings as the cold
increases, but this is an error. The bes
knows enough to take his precautionary
measures in good time, for when the
temperature of the air falls to
five or six degrees (about 40 degrees
Fahrenheit) he does not leave the hive,
and when the temperature approaches
freezing he cannot, without exposing
himself to paralysis and death, separate
who then form a compact ball.
There are others who believe that ex-
traordinary precautionary measures
taken by the bee are only the result OF
coincidence, and that chance plays the
chief part in them. This hypothesis Is
not tenable. Besides, the bee-keepers
of all countries agree in saying-and
their attention must have been often
called to the phenomenon-that every
time that the bees have taken care TO
seal Theoretically the entrances to the
hive, so as to leave but a minute pas
sage for air, the winter has been of ex-
treme rigor. On the other hand, the
years when the bees have done nothing
to preserve themselves from the cold
have been marked by relatively mild
winters during which no heavy frosts
have occurred.
Here the question naturally pre-
sents itself: How can the bee foresee
the weather so far in advance, when
man, with all his intelligence anc
knowledge has not yet succeeded in do
ing this?
I'm truth, 1 find no satisfactory an
swer to this question.
Must we suppose that, toward the
end of the summer, rigorous winter IS
heralded by drafts of air of exception
ally low temperature, that escape our
perceptions and our instruments, but
are perceived by the bee, for protection
against the cold?
However it may be. before his
instance of prediction, whose exact
ness is not open to doubt, on the testi-
mony of large number of bee-keepers,
every observer of meteorological phe-
ncmena should stand COMPOUNDED and
express his admiration for the mys
terious meteorology of the bee."-Lit-
erary Digest.