i 4 o THE WALKS ABROAD OF 



from the paternal abode, we shall see the bees, like a 

 little buzzing cloud, wandering about from tree to 

 tree, sometimes stopping and clustering together in a 

 dense mass, until a new home is found, or one is 

 provided by some bee-keeper. "When they escape 

 being thus appropriated, the new home is usually in 

 a hollow tree trunk, an old wall, or some similar 

 shelter. I have known bees to take up their abode 

 at the top of a steeple. Quite recently, in some 

 village of the Lower Seine whose name I have forgot- 

 ten, an inexperienced swarm found no better course 

 than to install itself in the letter-box of the post-office. 



" The dwelling place being selected, the bees cleanse 

 and prepare it ; they close accurately all its openings 

 except one, and they cement the interior by means of 

 a varnish called propolis. This substance is also used 

 for another purpose. If, by some chance, an intruder 

 should find its way into the habitation, they expel it, 

 either living or dead, when it is not of too great a 

 size for their powers. But sometimes it proves to be 

 too heavy to be ejected, and what then is to be done ? 

 "With such a carcass within it the dwelling would not 

 be habitable. 



" The bees are not embarrassed by such an affair. 

 They procure a supply of propolis, make use of it to 

 enshroud the body, and so, by this novel mode of 

 embalming prevent the access of air to it, after which 

 there is no further reason for apprehension : a sort of 



