378 PROPOLIS. 



As to the bees refusing resinous substances, 

 when presented to them, as substitutes for pro- 

 polis, MR. KNIGHT has assured us, in the Philo- 

 sophical Transactions, that this is not the fact ; as 

 he had seen them carry off a composition of wax 

 and turpentine, which had been laid over the de- 

 corticated parts of his trees. 



The bees blend this substance with wax in 

 different proportions, as occasion may require. 

 Among the ancients, it bore different names, ac- 

 cording to the quantity of wax it contained. Vir- 

 gil made this distinction, though MR. MARTIN con- 

 ceives that his narcissi lachrymce, cera [cum qua] 

 " spiramenta tenuia linunt," and gluten, all 

 mean the same thing : this is probably a mistake. 

 It seems much more likely that VIRGIL should mean 

 metys, pissoceron and propolis, the three names 

 by which PLINY says that the varieties of pro- 

 polis were distinguished in his time. 



I have before alluded to the fortification of the 

 weak places of hives with propolis. M. Reaumur, 

 whose hives consisted of wooden frames and panes 

 of glass, wishing to put this talent of the bees to 

 the test, carelessly fastened the glass of a hive 

 with paper and paste, before putting in a swarm ; 

 the bees soon discovered the weakness of his 

 paste-work, and indignantly gnawing to pieces 

 this feeble fence, secured the glass with their own 

 cement. 



