422 PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 



tion of her ambrosia ; this they repeat, if more do not arrive to assist 

 them, three or four times, till the whole is disposed of.^ Wildman observed 

 them on this occasion supporting themselves upon their two fore feet ; 

 and making several motions with their wings and body to the right and 

 left, which produced the sound that summoned their assistants.^ This 

 bee-bread, as I said before, is generally found in the second stomach and 

 intestines, but the honey never ; which induced Reaumur to think (but 

 he was mistaken) that the bees elaborated wax from it : and he observes, 

 that the bees devour this when they are busily engaged in constructing 

 combs. -^ When more pollen is collected than the bees have immediate 

 occasion for, they store it up in some of the empty cells. The laden bee 

 puts her two hind legs into the cell, and with the intermediate pair pushes 

 off the pellets. When this is done, she, or another bee if she is too much 

 fatigued with her day's labor, enters the cell with her head first, and 

 remains there some time : she is engaged in diluting the pellets, kneading 

 them, and packing them close ; and so they proceed till the cell is filled.'* 

 A large -portion of the cells of some combs are filled with this bread, 

 which one while is found in insulated cells, at another in cells amongst 

 those that are filled with honey or brood. Thus it is everywhere at 

 hand for use.^ 



You have seen how the bees collect and employ two of the materials 

 that I mentioned ; I must now advert to the third — the Propolis. 

 Huber was a long time uncertain from whence the bees procured this 

 gummy resin ; but it at last occurred to him to plant some cuttings of a 

 species of poplar (before their leaves were developed, when their leaf- 

 buds were swelling, and besmeared and filled with a viscid juice) in some 

 pots, which he placed in the way of the bees that went from his hives. 

 Almost immediately a bee alighted upon a twig, and soon with its mandi- 

 bles opened a bud, and drew from it a thread of the viscid matter which 

 it contained ; with one of its second pair of legs it took it from the mouth, 

 and placed it in the basket : thus it proceeded till it had given them both 

 their load.^ I have myself seen bees very busy collecting it from the 

 Tacamahaca (Populus b ah ami f era). But this is an old discovery, con- 

 firmed by recent observation ; for MoufFet tells us, from Cordus, that it is 

 collected from the gems of trees, instancing the poplar and the birch.'' 

 Riem observes that it is also collected from the pine and fir. The pro- 

 polis is soft, red, will pull out in a thread, is aromatic, and imparts a gold 

 color to white polished metals. It is employed in the hive not only in 

 finishing the combs, as I related in my letter on Habitations ; but also in 

 stopping every chink or orifice by which cold, wet, or any enemy, can 

 enter. They cover likewise with it the sticks which support the combs, 

 and often spread it over a considerable portion of the interior of the hive. 

 Like the pellets of pollen, it is carried on the posterior tibiae, but the 

 masses are lenticular.^ 



Mr. Knight mentions an instance of bees using an artificial kind of pro- 

 polis. He had caused the decorticated part of some tree to be covered 



' Reaum. v. 418. 2 i\^\^_ y_ p 33, 3 jjijI suprd, 419. 



■• Compare Reaum. 420., and Huber, ii. 24., with "Wildman, 40. 



^ For much valuable information on the economy of bees, the reader will do well to con- 

 sult Dr. Bevan's very interesting work on the Honey Bee. 



« Huber, ii. 260. ' Insect. Theatr. 36. Schirach, 241. « Reaum. ubi supra, 437, 



