340 BRITISH BEES. 



but, as their natural habits are not at all perverted by 

 their subjugation to man, we will pursue their history 

 under his dominion. This will be the more convenient, 

 for in the comfortable hive to which they have been 

 transferred by his agency, we shall have every opportu- 

 nity of exactly watching their manoeuvres by the facili- 

 ties yielded in its being glazed for the purpose. We 

 shall thus be enabled to see and follow the wonderful 

 economy of the hive and its many mysteries, which it 

 ■would not have been possible to accomplish in an abode 

 of their own choice, — some cavity presented by Nature 

 herself, the hollow of a tree, or an excavated rock. 

 They are, therefore, now housed, and after the survey of 

 the capacity of their abode, which is a short affair, 

 with all the prompt energy peculiar to them they at 

 once commence their labours. The queen is already 

 matured, and ready to lay eggs. In a natural abode 

 the gathering of propolis would perhaps be a first ne- 

 cessity to make their home water-and-wind-tight, for 

 they abhor the inconveniences of the intrusion of wet 

 or cold. It is with this material that they make repairs, 

 fill crevices, and strengthen the suspension of their 

 combs, -which are hung vertically ; and they apply it also 

 to other purposes, which we shall see hereafter. This 

 material is of a resinous nature, it has a balsamic odour, 

 and is of a reddish-brown or darker colour, and is sup- 

 posed to be collected from fir or pine trees, or from the 

 envelopes of the buds of many plants, or their resinous 

 exudations, especially that of the blossoms of the holly- 

 hock. It is exceedingly clammy, and they have been 

 observed ten minutes moulding it into the lenticular 

 pellets in which they carry it home in the corbicula, or 

 little basket, of the posterior tibise. They gather it like 



