HIVE-BEES. 105 



branes whereon it is moulded. He was confirmed 

 in this opinion by the escape of a transparent fluid 

 on piercing the membrane, whose internal surface 

 seemed to be applied to the soft parts of the belly. 

 This he found coagulated in cooling, when it re- 

 sembled wax, and again liquified on exposure to heat. 

 The scales themselves, also, melted and coagulated 

 like wax.* 



By chemical analysis, however, it appears that the 

 wax of the rings is a more simple substance than that 

 which composes the cells; for the latter is soluble 

 in ether, and in spirit of turpentine, while the former 

 is insoluble in ether, and but partially soluble in spirit 

 of turpentine. It should seem to follow, that if the 

 substance found lying under the rings be really the 

 elements of wax, it undergoes some subsequent pre- 

 paration after it is detached; and that the bees, in 

 short, are capable of impregnating it with matter, 

 imparting to it whiteness and ductility, whereas in its 

 unprepared state it is only fusible. 



Propolis. 



Wax is not the only material employed by bees in 

 their architecture. Besides this, they make use of a 

 brown, odoriferous, resinous substance, called pro- 

 polis,'\ more tenacious and extensible than wax, and 

 well adapted for cementuig and varnishing. It was 

 strongly suspected by Reaumur, that the bees collect- 

 ed the propolis from those trees which are known to 

 produce a similar gummy resin, such as the poplar, 

 the birch, and the willow; but he was thrown into 

 doubt by not being able to detect the bees in the 

 act of procuring it, and by observing them to collect 



* Huber on Bees, p. 325. 



+ From two Greek words tt^o ttoxi? meaning before the city, 

 as the substance is principally applied to the projecting parts of 

 the hive. 



