B^ BEES. 



When a snail with a shell gets entrance, to 

 dispose of it gives much less trouble and ex- 

 pense to the Bees. As soon as it receives the 

 first wound from a sting, it naturally retires 

 within its shell. In this case, the Bees, in- 

 stead of pasting it all over with propolis, 

 content themselves with gluing all round the 

 margin of the shell ; which is sufficient to 

 render the animal for ever immovably fixed. 



But propolis, and the materials for mak- 

 ing wax, are not the only substances that 

 these industrious animals have to collect. As, 

 besides the whole winter, there are many 

 days in the summer in which the Bees are 

 prevented by the weather from going abroad 

 in quest of provisions ; they are, therefore, 

 tinder the necessity of collecting and amassing 

 in cells destined for that purpose large quan- 

 tities of honey. This they extract, by means 

 of their trunk, from the nectariferous glands 

 of flowers. The trunk of the Bee is a kind 

 of rough cartilaginous tongue. After col- 

 lecting a few small drops of honey with this, 

 the animal carries them to its mouth, and 

 swallows them. From the gidlet they pass 

 into the first stomach, which is more or less 



