hibernaculum

the lightless hibernaculum
Where bees, striped black and gold, sleep out the blizzard
(from "Electra on Azalea Path," Sylvia Plath)

Great word--but awful story.

"Al Hicks was standing outside an old mine in the Adirondacks, the largest bat hibernaculum, or winter resting place, in New York State."

The New York Times, March 25, 2008, "Bats Perish, and No One Knows Why," by Tina Kelley