PROPOLIS, OR BEES' CEMENT. 195 



amongst the blossoms of a particular tree, it would 

 prove more fruitful than its fellows. On this account, 

 the orchard is a good place for an apiary, for it seems 

 that, more abundant the honey, more plentiful will be 

 ■the fruit. Bees bear the fructifying matter from one sex 

 of flowers to the other, but they confine their attention 

 ■to one kind of flower during each excursion ; and the 

 •careful observer may see how the colour of the pollen on 

 the bodies of the bees will vaiy from yellow to red and 

 brown, according to the kind of flowers from which it 

 hcis been gathered. The gathering of pollen, its use by 

 the nursing bees, and the storing of it in the cells, afford 

 to the bee-keeper opportunity for observations of-exceed- 

 ling interest. 



PROPOLIS, OR BEES' CEMENT. 



The old notion that wax is gathered by bees from 

 .flowers, as they gather honey, has long since been set 

 aside by the discoveries of Hombostel and Huber. Wax 

 is an oily substance, as described at page 45 ; but 

 there is " a resinous substance, very tenacious and semi- 

 transparent, " which is indispensable for the bees as a 

 cement wherewith to fix their combs and fortify their 

 hives against intruders, and this is "propolis." The 

 bees, in working the propolis, often soften it by blending 

 it with a portion of wax ; but they have to extract it in 

 . jts natural state directly from the bark and buds of cer- 



2 



