The Swarm 
manner in which the bees will dispose of 
a mouse or a slug that may happen to have 
found its way into the hive. The intruder 
killed, they have to deal with the body, 
which will very soon poison their dwelling. 
If it be impossible for them to expel or dis- 
member it, they will proceed methodically 
and hermetically to enclose it in a veritable 
sepulchre of propolis and wax, which will 
tower fantastically above the ordinary monu- 
ments of the city. In one of my hives last 
year I discovered three such tombs side by 
side, erected with party-walls like the cells 
of the comb, so that no wax should be 
wasted. These tombs the prudent grave- 
diggers had raised over the remains of three 
snails that a child had introduced into the 
hive. As a rule, when dealing with snails, 
they will be content to seal up with wax the 
orifice of the shell. But in this case the 
shells were more or less cracked and broken, 
and they had considered it simpler therefore 
to bury the entire snail; and had further 
contrived, in order that circulation in the en- 
trance-hall might not be impeded, a number 
of galleries exactly proportionate, not to their 
93 
