HONEY-BEE. 191 



pens that an ill-fated snail creeps into the hive. It is no 

 sooner perceived, than it is attacked on all sides, and stung 

 to death. But how are the bees to carry out a burthen of 

 such weight ? This labor they know would be in vain. 

 They are, perhaps, apprehensive that a body so large would 

 diffuse, in the course of its putrefaction, a disagreeable or 

 noxious odor through the hive. To prevent such hurtful con- 

 sequences, immediately after the animal's death, they embalm 

 it, by covering every part of its body with propolis, through 

 which no effluvia can escape. When a snail with a shell 

 gets entrance, to dispose of it gives much less trouble and 

 expense to the bees. As soon as this kind of snail receives 

 the first wound from a sting, it naturally retires within its 

 shell. In this case, the bees, instead 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 

 forever immovably, fixed. 



But propolis and the materials for making wax are not the 

 only substances these industrious animals have to collect. As 

 formerly remarked, beside the whole winter there are many 

 days in which the bees are prevented by the weather from 

 going abroad in quest of provisions. They are, therefore, un- 

 der the necessity of collecting, and laying up in cells destined 

 for that purpose, large quantities of honey. This sweet and 

 balsamic liquor they extract, by means of their proboscis or 

 trunk, from the nectariferous glands of flowers. The trunk 

 of a bee is of a kind of rough cartilaginous tongue. After 

 collecting a few small drops of honey, the animal with its 

 proboscis conveys them to its mouth, and swallows them. 

 From the oesophagus, or gullet, it passes into the first stom- 

 ach, which is more or less swelled in proportion to the 

 quantity of honey it contains. When empty, it has the ap- 

 pearance of a fine white thread; but, when filled with honey, 

 it assumes the figure of an oblong bladder, the membrane of 

 which is so thin and transparent, that it allows the color of the 

 liquor it contains to be distinctly seen. This bladder is well 

 known to children who live in the country. They cruelly 

 amuse themselves with catching bees, and tearing them asun- 

 der, in order to suck the honey. A single flower furnishes but 

 a small quantity of honey. The bees are therefore obliged to 

 fly from one flower to another till they fill their first stomachs. 

 When they have accomplished this purpose, they return di- 

 rectly to the hive, and disgorge in a cell the whole honey 

 they have collected. It not unfrequently happens, however, 



