Function of Propolis. 163 
might join as mourners. This custom still prevails, as I 
understand, in some parts of the South. Propolis has great 
adhesive force, and though soft and pliable when warm 
becomes very hard and unyielding when cold. 
The use of bee-glue is to cement the combs to their sup- 
ports, to fill up all rough places inside the hive, to seal up 
all crevices except the place of exit, which the bees often 
contract by aid of propolis, and even to cover any foreign 
substance that cannot be removed. Intruding snails have 
thus been imprisoned inside the hive. Réaumur found a 
snail thus encased; Maraldi a slug similarly entombed; 
while I have myself observed a bombus, which had been 
stripped by the bees of wings, hair, etc., in their vain 
attempts at removal, also encased in this unique style of a 
sarcophagus, fashioned by the bees. Alcohol, ether, and 
chloroform are all ready solvents of bee-glue, and will 
quickly remove it from the hands, clothing, ete. 
BIBLIOGRAPHY. 
For those who wish to pursue these interesting subjects 
more at length, I would recommend the following authors 
as specially desirable: Kirby and Spence, Introduction to 
Entomology; Duncan’s Transformations of Insects; Pack- 
ard’s Guide to the Study of Insects (American); F. Huber’s 
New Observations on the Natural History of Bees; Bevan 
on the Honey-Bee; Langstroth on the Honey-Bee ( Amer- 
ican); Neighbour on The Apiary; Cheshire’s Bees and 
Bee-Keeping; and the other books already referred to on 
page eleven. 
Ihave often been asked to recommend such treatises, 
and I heartily commend all of the above. The first and 
fourth are now out of print, but can be had by leaving 
orders at second-hand book-stores. 
