Observations seen during a total solar eclipse, August 31, 1932:

Honey-bees (Apis mellifica).

The observations on honey bees during the eclipse are of considerable value because several of them were made by apiarists, who are well-acquainted with the normal, every-day behavior of these insects. 

"I have four hives of bees. The day was a good one for them to be out gathering honey and therefore when the eclipse began bees were going out and returning at a lively rate.  With the first perceptible dimming of the light there was no change in the bees' activity, but as darkness increased the outgoing bees diminished in numbers and the return batallions grew larger. When the light was almost at the dimmest point no bees were leaving the  hives, but the returning individuals were pouring in by the thousands. The space above the hives was like a funnel into which bees were literally pouring from every direction. When the light began to  increase there was not a bee to be seen in the air. For them evidently it was the sudden advent of night. I watched to see whether with  the return of light they would go out again. Normally they go out till dusk, but in spite of the bright sunshine following the eclipse only an occasional bee ventured forth" (T. Clinton Brockway, Hingham,  Mass.)

"From my point of observation it was interesting to see the honeybees stop working and the night insects start singing, all  in less than twenty minutes" (T. M. Spalding, Bradford, N. H.)

"During the period of the eclipse today I closely watched the behavior of eleven strong colonies of bees.  They have been particularly busy on the big late honey flow from yellow goldenrod and buckwheat, and were very active at the begin ning of the eclipse at about 3.30 o'clock. The temperature was 85 F. and the sky partly overcast, with the sun shining through now and then. Here at Lincoln, where these observations were made, the clouds thickened and only a short sight of the sun at 4.30, just at the height of the eclipse, was obtained. There was no direct  sunlight afterward. At 4 P.M. not much change in temperature or in the activity of the bees could be noted. At 4.10 P.M. many more were coming in than were going out. At 4.20 P.M. the air was full  of returning bees. Those leaving the hives flew about on erratic courses and came back. They also became excited and cross and it became dangerous to stay within forty feet of the hives. I beat off two attacks and returned to a safe distance. At 4.30, the period of greatest darkness, the fronts of the hives were covered with bees all trying to get in at once. At 4.40 a few stragglers came in those caught in the dark a long way from home. At 4.45 there was not a  bee in sight, not a sound in the apiary except the hum in the hives that is usually heard at night when the ear is held close to the hive.  There was no outside activity, all having apparently arrived home. At 4:55 a few scouts came out and flew around, but as the clouds had  become quite dense and the temperature had dropped to 74, the whole 2,750,000 of them, more or less, decided to call it a day and do house work. Probably the bees would have worked till nearly seven had the day been clear, as they usually work for sometime after sunset." (H. T. Wheeler, Lexington, Mass)

Observations on the Behavior of Animals during the Total Solar Eclipse of August 31, 1932 

Author(s): William Morton Wheeler, Clinton V. MacCoy, Ludlow Griscom, Glover M. Allen and Harold J. Coolidge Jr.
Source: Proceedings of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Vol. 70, No. 2 (Mar., 1935), pp. 33-70
Published by: American Academy of Arts & Sciences Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20023118

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