ARCHITECTURE AND ECONOMY OP THE HIVE, ft 



every chink tliat might admit the weather : the substance which 

 they employ for the latter purpose, and which likewise forms the 

 basis of their comb, is called propolis, and is quite distinct from 

 wax. Even the ancients appear to have recognized the distinc- 

 tion between wax and propolis ; for Virgil particularly describes 

 two sorts of wax, one of a character adapted for smearing (this 

 was the true wax), the other for cementing or glueing — this was 

 the substance we now know as propolis. This is a resinous sub- 

 stance of a greyish-brown color, and aromatic odor, and possessed 

 of singular tenacity. Huber first showed that the bees collect 

 this substance from the alder, birch, and willow trees, but espe- 

 cially from the poplar. A small filmy thread of the viscous pro- 

 duce of the tree is drawn off by the bee, and carefully kneaded 

 into a ball by the action of the matidibles, after which it is secured 

 in the basket which I have described as existing on the hinder 

 legs : so tenacious is this substance, that on the laden bee's arriv- 

 ing at the hive, it requires the united efibrts of many bees to dis- 

 engage the load from the receptacle in which it has been placed ; 

 it also rapidly hardens ; the bees, therefore, use it at once while 

 it is yet fresh and plastic. It is with this substance, also, that 

 the hive is attached to the stand on which it is placed,' and with 

 which the bees attach the comb to the hive : it is, ' however, of 

 wax that the cells are formed. 



To Huber we are indebted for having been the first to commu- 

 nicate to the world the mode in which tlie cells are commenced. 

 He compelled the bees to build upwards, instead of allowing 

 them to begin in the ordinary manner from above, downwards, 

 and thus avoided the concealment of their work, attendant on 

 their usual suspension from the top of the hive. A glass window 

 did the rest. 



Mr. Huber's discoveries are astonishing and interesting in the 

 extreme. The combs formed by the bee, when permitted to 

 follow its natural instinct, are commenced from the top of the hive, 

 and consist of parallel plates of comb, having cells on both sides, 

 the one base, therefore, serving for both, which effects a great sav- 

 ing of material. The form of each cell is hexagonal, having six 

 equal sides, with the exception of the uppermost row, the shape 

 of which is an irregular pentagon. 



Here we must pause for a moment to wonder and admire — to 

 admire the extraordinary instinct the Almighty has implanted in 

 the bodies of these little insects. The chief requisites to be looked 



