88 PROPOLIS. 



The bees make a very liberal use of this substance to fill 

 up all the crevices about their premises : and as the natural 

 summer heat of the hive keeps it soft, the bee moth selects 

 it as a proper place of deposit for her eggs. For this reason, 

 hives should be made of sound lumber, entirely free from 

 cracks. The corners, which the bees always fill with propo- 

 lis, may have a melted mixture run into them, three parts of 

 rosin, and one of bees-wax ; this remaining hard during the 

 hottest weather, bids defiance to the moth. 



As the bees find it difficult to gather the propolis, and 

 equally so to remove from their thighs and work so sticky a 

 material, it is important to save them all unnecessary labor 

 in amassing it. To men, time is money ; to bees, it is honey ; 

 and all the arrangements of the hive should be such as to 

 economize it to the very utmost. 



Propolis is sometimes put to a very curious use by the 

 bees. " A snail* having crept into one of M. Reaumur's 

 hives early in the morning, after crawling about for some 

 time, adhered by means of its own slime to one of the glass 

 panes. The bees having discovered the snail, surrounded it 

 and formed a border of propolis round the verge of its shell, 

 and fastened it so securely to the glass that it became im- 

 movable." 



" Forever closed the impenetrable door, 

 It naught avails that in its torpid veins 

 Year after year, life's loitering spark remains." 



Etans. 



" Maraldi, another eminent Apiarian, states that a snail 

 without a shell having entered one of his hives, the bees, as 

 soon as they observed it, stung it to death ; after which, 

 being unable to dislodge it, they covered it all over with an 

 impervious coat of propolis." 



* Bevan. 



