PllOPOLIS. . 89 



" For soon in fearless ire, their wonder lost, 

 Spring fiercely from the comb the indignant host. 

 Lay the pierced monster breathless on the ground, 

 And clap iu joy their victor pinions round : 

 While all in vain concurrent numbers strive. 

 To heave the slime-girt giant from the hive — ■ 

 Sure not alone by force instinctive swayed, 

 But blest with reason's soul directing aid. 

 Alike in man or bee, they haste to pour, 

 Thick hard'ning as it falls, the flaky shower ; 

 Embalmed in shroud of glue the mummy lies. 

 No worms invade, no foul miasmas rise." 



Evans. 



" In these instances who can withhold his admiration of 

 the ingenuity and judgment of the bees ? In the first case 

 a troublesome creature gained admission to the hive, which, 

 from its unwieldiness, they could not remove, and which, 

 from the impenetrability of its shell, they could not destroy : 

 here then their only resource was to deprive it of locomo- 

 tion, and to obviate putrefaction ; both which objects they 

 accomplished most sliillfully and securely ; and as is usual 

 with these sagacious creatures, at the least possible expense 

 of labor and materials. They applied their cement where 

 alone it was required, round the verge of the shell. In Ihe 

 latter case, to obviate the evil of decay, by the total exclu- 

 sion of air, they were obliged to be more lavish in the use 

 of their embalming material, and to case over the " slime- 

 girt giant " so as to guard themselves from his noisome 

 smell. What means more effectual could human wisdom 

 have devised under similar circumstances .'■" 



A large volume would not suffice to set forth all the 

 superstitions connected with bees. While on the subject of 

 Propolis, I will refer to one which is very common, and has 

 often made a deep impression upon many minds. When 

 any member of a family dies, the bees are believed to be 

 aware of what has happened, and the hives are by some 

 8* 



