The Winslow mail., 1898-03-12
LITTLE WEATHER PROPHETS.
Bees Seem to Know in Advance What
the Weather Will Be.

Bees Seem to Know in Advance What
the Weather Will Be.
The question whether various insects
and animals have the powers popularity
attributed to them Of knowing in ad-
vance what the weather is going to be,
and in particular of predicting the Sc
verify of a coming winter, has fire.
quently been discussed. A correspond
ent of Cosmos, NJ. p. de Ridder, writes
to that journal that he believes the bee
to posses this power beyond doubt, and
ne proceeds to give his reasons for that
belief. We translate his letter below.
Says NJ. de Ridder:
Every one knows that at the ap.
proach of winter certain birds leave
northern regions and fly southwark,
seeking under a warmer sky a refuge
against the cold and rigors Of the north.
But every one does not know Of the
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 to
understand a long time in advance
whether the winter is to be mild or Sc
we're. Between the migratory birds and
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 1 make bold to call the
bees meteorology.
But the bee does not know how to
dee 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. For
ty years ago bee-keepers were still
using the old miter-shaped straw hives
with two openings or entrances. Well,
| noticed that about the beginning Of
October the bees stopped up these two
entrances with wax so as to leave pass
age for only one bee at time, thus CIV
ing lesson to the bee-keeper who had
neglected to put 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 bee
knows enough to take his precautionary
measures in good time, for when the
temperature Of the air falls to 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 himself from the mass Of in
dividuals, who then form a compact
ball.
''There are others who believe that
extraordinary 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 pass
age for air, the winter has been of ex-
IRENE rigor. On the other hand, the
years when the bees have done nothing
I 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, wher
man with all his intelligence and his
knowledge has not yet succeeded in do
Ing this?
'In truth, 1 find no satisfactory an
swer to this question.
'Must we suppose that, toward the
end of the summer, rigorous winter Il
heralded by drafts Of air of exception
ally low temperature, that escape oul
perceptions and our instruments, bu
are perceived by the bee, and utilized
by it as signs that it must take meas
ures, in due time, for protection against
! the cold?
However it may be, before this in
stance of prediction, whose exactness Il
not open to doubt on the testimony of 6
large number of bee-keepers, every OBJ
server Of meteorological phenomena
should stand confounded and express
his admiration for the mysterious me
teorology Of the bee"-Literary Digest
Panned $14 to ihe Cuspidor.