HABITATIONS OF INSECTS. 497 



younger Huber to be besmeared with a reddish varnish, 

 unctuous, strong-scented, and similar to, if not the same 

 as, propolis. Sometimes tliere were red threads in the in- 

 terior, which were also applied round the sides, rhombs, 

 or trapeziums. This solder, as it may be called, placed 

 at the point of contact of the different parts, and at the 

 summit of the angles formed by their meeting, seemed to 

 give solidity to the cells, round the axis of the longest of 

 which there were sometimes one or two red zones. From 

 subsequent experiments, M. Huber ascertained that this 

 substance was actually propolis, collected from the buds 

 of the poplar. He saw them with their mandibles draw 

 a thread from the mass of propolis that was most con- 

 veniently situated, and breaking it by a sudden jerk of 

 the head, take it with the claws of their fore-legs, and 

 then, entering the cell, place it at the angles and sides, &c. 

 which they had previously planished. The yellow co- 

 lour, however, is not given by the propolis, and it is not 

 certain to what it is owing. — The bees sometimes mix 

 wax and propolis and make an amalgam, known to the 

 ancients and called by them Mitj/s and Pissoceros, which 

 they use in rebuilding cells that have been destroyed, 

 in order to strengthen and support the edifice*. 



We know but little of the proceedings of the species 

 of bees not indigenous to Europe, which live in societies 

 and construct combs like that cultivated by us. A tra- 

 veller in Brazil mentions one there which builds a kind 

 of natural hive : " On an excursion towards upper Ta- 

 pagippe," says he, "and skirting the dreary woods which 



" Xouvelles Observations sur les Ahcillcs, luir Fran^'ois Huber, ii. 

 101-288. I have observed the bees collecting propolis in the spring 

 from the buds of Populus bahamifcra. 

 VOL. I. 2 K 



