268 CURIOUS HOMES AND THEIR TENANTS. 



may be seen swarming with bees, all busy in collect- 

 ing it for their own uses. Long before mankind had 

 arrived at what may be called the varnish period, when 

 the surfaces of furniture and utensils began to receive 

 coats of viscous material not for the purpose of col- 

 oring but to make them look polished and brilliant, 

 the bees were expert varnishers. 



Among hive-bees, wax is used with the utmost 

 economy, for its collection and elaboration are attended 

 with so much labor that only the hive-bee takes the 

 trouble to store it in any quantity, other species sup- 

 plying its place with inferior substitutes. The par- 

 titions of wax that separate the marvelous structure 

 of the honeycomb into cells — so arranged as to com- 

 bine the greatest amount of available storeroom with 

 the minimum of material — are so extremely thin that 

 the insect finds it necessary to strengthen their edges 

 with accumulations of this bee varnish, or propoKs, 

 as it is called. The comb is fastened to its support, 

 and all crevices are filled with this material. The 

 propolis can be easily distinguished from the wax by 

 its darker color and natural luster. 



Among the insect upholsterers we have the leaf- 

 cutting bees. It is said that a French gardener, find- 

 ing their extraordinary nests in his flower beds, could 

 not account for the presence of such skillfully con- 

 trived curios otherwise than that they were placed 

 there by some evilly disposed magician to work him 

 or his garden harm, and with this idea showed them 

 to his employer, who with some difiiculty persuaded 

 him that they were the work of insects. 



