HYMENOPTERA. 321 



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

 know that if they abandoned the carcass 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 nest, 



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 cer- 

 tain 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 hive 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 the bees, and then disgorged by the mouth. It was 

 reserved for a peasant of Lusac to be the first to discover the 



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