78 THE HIVE AND HONEY-BEE. 



but as this natural varnish impairs their snowy whiteness, 

 the bees ought not to be allowed access to combs in the 

 surplus honey-receptacles, except when actively engaged 

 in storing them with honey. 



Bees make a very liberal use of propolis to fill any 

 crevices about their premises ; and as the natural summer- 

 heat of the hive keeps it soft, the bee-moth selects it as a 

 place of deposit for her eggs. Hives ought, therefore, to 

 be made of lumber entirely free from cracks. The corners, 

 which the bees usually fill with propolis, may have a melted 

 mixture run into them, consisting of three parts of resin 

 and one of bees-wax ; this remaining hard during the 

 hottest weather, will bid defiance to the moth. 



As bees find it difficult to gather propolis, and equally 

 so to work so sticky a material, they should be saved all 

 unnecessary labor in amassing it. To men, time is money j 

 to bees, it is honey ; and all the arrangements of the hive 

 should be such as to economize it to the utmost. 



Propolis is sometimes put to a very curious use by the 

 bees. " A snail,* having crept into one of M. Reaumur's 

 hives early in the morning, after crawling about for some 

 time, adhered, by means of its own slime, to one of the 

 glass panes. The bees having discovered the snail, sur- 

 rounded it, and formed a border of propolis round the 

 verge of its shell, and fastened it so securely to the glass 

 that it became immovable. 



' Forever closed the impenetrable door ; 

 It naught avails that in its torpid veins 

 Tear after year, life's loitering spark remains.' 



EVANS. 



" Maraldi, another eminent Apiarian, states that a snail 

 without a shell having entered one of his hives, the bees, 

 as soon as they observed it, stung it to death ; after which, 



