86 PROPOLIS. 



This artless frame ? Instinct iier simple guide, 

 A lieaven-tauglit Insect baffles all your pride. 

 Not all yon marshall'd orbs, that ride so high, 

 Proclaim more loud a present Deity, 

 Than the nice symmetry of these small cells. 

 Where on each angle genuine science dwells." 



Evans. 



CHAPTER V. 



Propolis, or '-Bee-Glue." 



This substance is obtained by the bees from the resinous 

 buds and limbs of trees ; the different varieties of poplar 

 yield a rich stipply. When fy-st gathered, it is usually of a 

 bright golden color, and so exceedingly sticky, that the bees 

 never deposit it in cells, but apply it at once to the pur- 

 poses for which it has been gathered. I have sometimes 

 caught them as they were bringing in a load, and found it 

 adhering very firmly to their legs. 



" Huber planted in Spring some branches of the wild 

 poplar, before the leaves Vfere developed, and placed them 

 in pots near his Apiary ; the bees alighted on them, separat- 

 ed the folds of the large buds vi'ith their forceps, extracted 

 the varnish in threads, and loaded vyith it, first one thigh and 

 then the other ; for they convey it like pollen, transferring 

 it by the first pair of legs to the second, by which it is lodged 

 in the hollow of the third." 



The smell of the propolis is often like that of the resin 

 from the poplar, and chemical analysis proves the identity of 

 the two substances. It is frequently gathered from the 



