HIVE-BEES 139 



finished in a hive, manifest disorder and agitation pre- 

 vailed among the bees. They seemed to attack their 

 own works. The primitive cells, whose structure we 

 had admired, were scarcely recognizable. Thick and 

 massy walls, heavy, shapeless pillars, were substituted 

 for the slight partitions previously built with such regu- 

 larity. The substance had changed along with theform, 

 being composed apparently of wax and propolis. From 

 the perseverance of the workers in their devastations, 

 we suspected that they proposed some useful akeration 

 of their edifices; and our attention was directed to the 

 cells least injured. Several were yet untouched; but 

 the bees soon rushed precipitately on them, destroyed 

 the tubes, broke down the wax, and threw all the 

 fragments about. But v.-e remarked, that tlie bottom 

 of the cells of the first row was spared; neither were 

 the corresponding parts on both faces of the comb 

 demoUshed at the same time. The bees laboured at 

 them alternately, leaving some of the natural sup- 

 ports, otherwise the comb would have fallen down, 

 which was not their object: they wished, on the con- 

 trary, to provide it a more solid base, and to secure 

 its union to the vault of the hive, with a substance 

 whose adhesive properties infinitely surpassed those 

 of wax. The propolis employed on this occasion 

 had been deposited in a mass over a cleft of the hive, 

 and had hardened m drying, which probably ren- 

 dered 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 ren- 

 der 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 employed in rebuilding the cells 



