156 Insect Architecture. 



drying, which probably rendered it more suitable for the 

 purpose. But the bees experienced some difficulty in making 

 any impression on it ; and we thought, as also had appeared 

 to M. de Reaumur, that they softened it with the same frothy 

 matter from the tongue which they use to render wax more 

 ductile. 



" We very distinctly observed the bees mixing fragments 

 of old wax with the propolis, kneading the two substances 

 together to incorporate them ; and the compound was em- 

 ployed in rebuilding the cells that had been destroyed. But 

 they did not now follow their ordinary rules of architecture, 

 for they were occupied by the solidity of their edifices alone. 

 Night intervening, suspended our observations, but next 

 morning confirmed what we had seen. 



" We find, therefore, that there is an epoch in the labour 

 of bees, when the upper foundation of their combs is con- 

 structed simply of wax, as Reaumur believed ; and that, after 

 all the requisite conditions have been attained, it is converted 

 to a mixture of wax and propolis, as remarked by Pliny so 

 many ages before us. Thus is the apparent contradiction 

 between these two great naturalists explained. But this is 

 not the utmost extent of the foresight of these insects. 

 When they have plenty of wax, they make their combs the 

 full breadth of the hive, and solder them to the glass or 

 wooden sides, by structures more or less approaching the 

 form of cells, as circumstances admit. But should the supply 

 of wax fail before they have been able to give sufficient 

 diameter to the combs whose edges are rounded, large inter- 

 vals remain between them and the upright sides of the hive, 

 and they are fixed only at the top. Therefore, did not the 

 bees provide against it, by constructing great pieces of wax 

 mixed with propolis, in the intervals, they might be borne 

 down by the weight of the honey. These pieces are of 

 irregular shape, strangely hollowed out, and their cavities 

 void of symmetry." * 



It is remarked by the lively Abbe la Pluche, that the 

 foundations of our houses sink with the earth on which they 

 * Huber on Bees, p. 415. 



