88 THE BEE keeper's MANUAL 



after which being unable to dislodge it, they covered it all 



over with an impervious coat of propolis." 



" For soon in fearless ire, their wonder lost. 

 Spring fiercely from the comb the indignant host, 

 Lay the pierced monster breathless on the ground, 

 And clap in jay their victor pinions round : 

 While all in vain concurrent numbers strive, 

 To heave the slime-girt giant from the hive — 

 Sure not alone by force Instinctive swayed, 

 But blest with reason's soul directing aid, 

 Alike in man or bee, they haste to pour, 

 Thick hard'ning as it falls, the flaky shower ; 

 Embalmed in shroud of glue the mummy lies, 

 No worms invade, no foul miasmas rise." 



Evans. 



" In these cases who can withhold his admiration of the 

 ingenuity and judgment of the bees ? In the first case a 

 troublesome creature gained admission to the hive, which, 

 from its unwieldiness, they could not remove, and which, 

 from the impienetrability of its shell, they could not destroy : 

 here then their only resource was to deprive it of locomo- 

 tion, and to obviate putrefaction ; both which objects they ac- 

 complished most skilfully and securely — and as is usual with 

 these sagacious creatures, at the least possible expense of 

 labor and materials. They applied their cement where 

 alone it was required, round the verge of. the shell. In 

 the latter case, to obviate the evil of decay, by the total 

 exclusion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish in the 

 use of their embalming material, and to case over the 

 " slime girt giant" so as to guard themselves from his noi- 

 some smell. What means more effectual could human 'wis- 

 dom have devised under similar circumstances.^" 



"If in the insect, Eeason's twilight ray 

 Sheds on the darkling mind a doubtful day, 

 Plain is the steady light her Instincts yield, 

 To point the road o'er life's unvaried field ; 

 If few these instincts, to the destined goal, 

 With stirer course, their straiten'd currents roll." 



Evaui. 



