78 THE HONEY-BEE. 



and was kept in the shop of the apothecary. When 

 smeared on the fingers, it is very difficult of removal. 

 Soap has no effect upon it ; water fails to wash it off; 

 but spirits of wine readily dissolve it, and are the 

 most easy and effectual means of getting it off 

 the skin. 



Bees usually choose the middle of the day for 

 gathering this, substance, as the warmth of the air, 

 by softening the resinous material, facilitates the 

 obtaining of it from the trees, and prevents its too 

 speedy hardening before it reaches the hives. Some- 

 times, indeed, the resin becomes so firm in consistency 

 by the time the collectors of it get home, that they 

 require the assistance of their fellow-workers to 

 detach it from their thighs. 



One very remarkable use to which propolis is 

 occasionally put by the bees, is for the covering up 

 of mice, snails, frogs, or other intruders, whose ex- 

 pulsion is impossible, or who have died after entering 

 the hives. Reaumur relates that, on one occasion, he 

 observed a snail thus glued down to a piece of glass 

 in one of his hives ; and, in another instance, where a 

 slug had been stung to death, and was far ' too large 

 for removal by the insects, these clever sanitarians 

 completely enveloped the mollusc with a coating of 

 propolis-varnish, to prevent the emanation of any 

 noxious vapours when decomposition set in. It was, 

 in fact, a distinct instance of embalming. Huish 

 mentions that a mouse was similarly treated by one 

 of his stocks of bees. 



The quantity of propolis collected is sometimes 

 very large, particularly where spaces are left at the 

 top, sides, or bottoms of bee-dwellings. At present, 



