H Y MEN OP TERA. 321 



the invasion of their domicile, they set upon the impudent intruder, 

 and sting him to death. But how can they drag out the dead body, 

 which is often very heavy? such, for instance, as a slug. On the 

 other hand, it would be dangerous to abandon its carcase in the midst 

 of the hive. A Roman Emperor said that the dead bodies of our 

 enemies always smelt good. This is not the opinion of the bees. 

 They know that if they abandon the carcase in the hive it would 

 infect the place, to the great danger of their health. They therefore 

 embalm it. They encase it in propolis, which preserves it from 

 putrefaction. It is said that the art of embalming was practised for 

 the first time by the ancient Egyptians. It is an error: the first 

 inventors of this art were bees. 



If, instead of a slug, it is a snail whose evil genius has conducted 

 it into the interior of a beehive, the proceeding is more simple. The 

 moment he has received one sting, the snail retires under the 

 protecting roof of his movable house. The bees thereupon at once 

 wall him in by closing the opening to his shell with this material. 

 The shell is then cemented to the floor of the hive, and the house of 

 the poor mollusc, become its tomb, remains thus in the midst of the 

 hive, as a sort of decorative tumulus. When the sides of the hive are 

 well closed, the bees lay the foundations of their cells. 



It was not formerly so easy to observe the details of the work done 

 by the bees as it is at the present day; for these insects, once in their 

 hives, have a great aversion to the light. If they are put into a 

 glazed hive, their first care is to shut up all the windows, either by 

 plastering them over with propolis, or by forming, by means of the 

 well-marshalled battalion of working bees, a sort of living curtain. In 

 order to be able to take them unawares, and study them at his own 

 convenience, Huber constructed a hive with leaves, which opened 

 like a book. Fig. 314, which represents the hive with leaves, which 

 is sometimes used, gives an idea of the plan adopted by Huber in 

 order to enable him at will to open the hive and surprise its inmates. 

 Huber had also recourse in certain cases to a glass cage placed in 

 the interior of the hive, and which he could easily move to the light. 



Thanks to his ingenuity, Huber was able to follow the working 

 bees in all the various phases of their labours. When they begin to 

 construct their hives they divide the work among themselves. A 

 first detachment is employed to gather the wax, which is the building; 

 stone of our little architects. It was thought for a long time that wax 

 was solely the pollen of flowers, elaborated in the stomach of bees, and 

 then disgorged by the mouth. It was reserved for a peasant of Lusac 

 to be the first to discover the true nature of this secretion. This 



