190 THE BKE-KEEPKR S GUIDE ; 



combs that are entirely destitute of pollen, surely not unless 

 they have been long used as brood-combs. The intruder must 

 have proteid food. 



The function of bee-bread is to furnish albuminous food 

 to all the bees, adults no less than larvae. As already stated, 

 brood-rearing is impossible without it. And though it is cer- 

 tainly not essential to the nourishment of the adult bees when 

 in repose, it still may be so, and unquestionably is, in time of 

 active labor. This point is clearly proved from the fact that 

 pollen-husks are almost always found in the intestines of bees. 

 We may say it feeds the tissues of the imago bees, and is 

 necessary that the workers may form the food for the queen, 

 drones and larv^. Schonfeld thinks the bees must have it in 

 winter, and in case no bee-bread is in the combs, he thinks the 

 bees scrape it from the cells and old combs. I believe bees 

 often winter better when there is no pollen in the hive. 



PROPOLIS OR BEE-GLUE. 



This substance, also called bee-glue, is collected as the 

 bees collect pollen, and is not made or secreted. It is the pro- 

 duct of various resinous buds, and may be seen to glisten on 

 the opening buds of the hickory and horse-chestnut, where it 

 frequently serves the entomologist by capturing small insects. 

 From such sources, from the oozing gum of various trees, 

 from varnished furniture, and from old propolis about unused 

 hives that have previously seen service, do the bees secure 

 their glue. Probably the gathering of bees about cofl&ns to 

 collect the glue from the varnish, led to the custom of rap- 

 ping on the hives to inform the bees, in case of a death in the 

 family, that they might join as mourners. This custom still 

 prevails, as I understand, in some parts of the South. Propolis 

 has great adhesive force, and though soft and pliable when 

 warm becomes very hard and unyielding when cold. 



The use of bee-glue is to cement the combs to their sup- 

 ports, to fill up all rough places inside the hive, to seal up all 

 crevices except the place of exit, which the bees often contract 

 by aid of propolis, and even to cover any foreign substance 

 that can not be removed. Intruding snails have thus been 

 imprisoned inside the hive. Reaumur found a snail thus in- 

 cased ; Maraldi a slug similarly entombed ; while I have myself 



