524 



HISTORY OF INSECTS. 



a single floating bee-house yields (he proprie- 

 tor a considerable income. Why a method si- 

 milar to this has never been adopted in Eng- 

 land, where we have more gentle rivers, and 

 more flowery banks, than in any other part of 

 the world, I know not : certainly it might be 

 turned to advantage, and yield the possessor a 

 secure, though perhaps a moderate income. 



Having mentioned the industry of these ad- 

 mirable insects, it will be proper to say some- 

 thing of the effects of their labour of that wax 

 and honey which are turned by man to such 

 various uses. Bees gather two kinds of wax; 

 one coarse, and the other fine. The coarser 

 sort is bitter, and with this, which is called 

 propolis, they stop up all the holes and crevi- 

 ces of their hives. 1 It is of a more resinous 



nature than the fine wax, and is consequently 

 better qualified to resist the moisture of the 

 season, and preserve the wocks warm and dry 

 within. The fine wax is as necessary to the 



1 It was strongly suspected by Reaumur, that the bees 

 collected the propolis from those trees which are known 

 to produce a similar gummy resin, such as the poplar, 

 the birch, and the willow; but he was thrown into doubt 

 by not being able to detect the bees in the act of procur- 

 ing it, and by observing them to collect it where none 

 of those trees, nor any other of the same description, 

 grew. His bees also refused to make use of bitumen, 

 and other resinous substances, with which he supplied 

 them, though Mr Knight was more successful. 



Huber at length set the question at rest. " For many 

 years," says he, " I had fruitlessly endeavoured to find 

 them entrees producing an analogous substance, though 

 multitudes had been seen returning laden with it. In 

 July, some branches of the wild poplar, which had been 

 cut since spring, with very large buds, full of a reddish, 

 viscous, odoriferous matter, were brought to me, and I 

 planted them in vessels before hives, in the w-ay of the 

 bees going out to forage, so that they could not be insen- 

 sible of their presence. Within a quarter of an hour 

 they were visited by a bee, which separating the sheath 

 of a bud with its teeth, drew out threads of the viscous 

 substance, and lodged a pellet of it in one of the baskets 

 of its limbs : from another bud it collected another pellet 

 for the opposite limb, and departed to the hive. A se- 

 cond bee took the place of the former in a few minutes, 

 following the same procedure. Young shoots of poplar, 

 recently cut, did not seem to attract these insects, as 

 their viscous matter had less consistence than the for- 

 mer. Different experiments proved the identity of this 

 substance with propolis; and now, having only to disco- 

 ver how the bees applied it to use, we peopled a hive, 

 so prepared as to fulfil our views. The bees, building 

 upwards, soon reached the glass above ; but, unable to 

 quit their habitation, on account of rain, they were three 

 weeks without bringing home propolis. Their combs 

 remained perfectly white until the beginning of July, 

 when the state of the atmosphere became more favourable 

 for our observations. Serene warm weather engaged 

 them to forage, and they returned from the fields laden 

 with a resinous gum, resembling a transparent jelly, and 

 having the colour and lustre of the garnet. It was easily 

 distinguished from the farinaceous pellets then collected 

 by other bees. The workers bearing the propolis ran 

 over the clusters suspended from the roof of the Live, 

 and rested on the rods supporting the comos, or some- 

 times stopped on the sides of their dwelling, in expecta- 

 tion of their companions coming to discumber them of 

 their burden. We actually saw two or three arrive, and 

 carry the propolis from off the limbs of each with their 

 teeth. The upper part of the hive exhibited the most 

 animated spectacle : thither a multitude of bees resorted 

 from all quarters, to engage in the predominant occupa- 

 tion of the collection, distribution, and application of the 



propolis. Some conveyed that of which they had un- 

 loaded the purveyors in their teeth, and deposited it in 

 heaps; others hastened, before its hardening, to spread 

 it out like a varnish, or form it into strings, proportioned 

 to the interstices of the sides of the hive to be filled up. 

 Nothing could be more diversified than the operations 

 carried on. 



The bees, apparently charged with applying the pro- 

 polis within the cells, were easily distinguished from the 

 multitude of workers, by the direction of their heads to- 

 wards the horizontal pane forming the roof of the hive, 

 and on reaching it, they deposited their burden nearly 

 in the middle of intervals separating the combs : then 

 they conveyed the propolis to the real place of its destina- 

 tion. They suspended themselves by the claws of the 

 hind legs to points of support, afforded by the viscosity of 

 the propolis on the glass ; and, as it were, swinging 

 themselves backwards and forwards, brought the heap of 

 this substance nearer to the cells at each impulse. Here 

 the bees employed their fore feet, which remained free, 

 to sweep what the teeth had detached, and to unite the 

 fragments scattered over the glass, which recovered all 

 its transparency when the whole propolis was brought to 

 the vicinity of the cells. After some of the bees had 

 smoothed down and cleaned out the glazed cells, fueling 

 the way with their antenna?, one desistud, and having 

 approached a heap of propolis, drew out a thread with its 

 teeth. This being broken off, it was taken in the claws 

 of the fore feet, and the bee, re-entering the cell, imme- 

 diately placed it in the angle of two portions that had 

 been smoothed, in which operation the fore feet and teeth 

 were used alternately ; but probably proving too clumsy, 

 the thread was reduced and polished ; and we admired 

 the accuracy with which it was adjusted when the work 

 was completed. The insect did not stop here : return- 

 ing to the cell, it prepared other parts of it to receive a 

 second thread, for which we did not doubt that, the heap 

 would be resorted to. Contrary to our expectation, how- 

 ever, it availed itself of the portion of the thread cut off 

 on the former occasion, arranged it in the appointed 

 place, and gave it all the solidity and finish of which it 

 was susceptible. Other bees concluded the work which 

 the first had begun ; and the sides of the cells were speed- 

 ily secured with threads of propolis, while some were 

 also put on the orifices; but we could not seize the mo- 

 ment when they were varnished, though it may be easily 

 conceived how it is done." 



This is not the only use to which bees apply the pro- 

 polis. They are extremely solicitous to remove such in- 

 sects or foreign bodies as happen to get admission into 

 the hive. When so light as not to exceed their powers, 

 they first kill the insect with their stings, and then drag 

 it out with their teeth. But it sometimes happens, as 

 was first observed by Maraldi, and since by Reaumur 

 and others, that an ill-fated snail creeps into the hive : 

 this is no sooner perceived than it is attacked on all 

 sides, and stung to death. But how are the bees to carry 

 out so heavy a burthen? Such a labour would be in 

 vain. To prevent the noxious smell which would arise, 

 from its putrefaction, they immediately 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 it receives 

 the first wound from a sting, it naturally retires within 

 its shell. In this case, the bees, instead of pasting it a.] 

 over with propolis, content themselves with gluing ail 

 round the margin of the shell, which is sufficient to ren- 

 der the animal for ever immovably fixed. 



