PERFECT SOCIETIES OF INSECTS. 187 
also collected from the pine and fir. The propolis is 
soft, red, will pull out in a thread, is aromatic, and im- 
parts a gold colour to white polished metals. It is em- 
ployed in the hive not only in finishing the combs, as I 
related in my letter on Habitations*; but also in stop- 
ping every chink or orifice by which cold, wet, or any 
enemy, canenter. ‘They cover likewise with it the sticks 
which support the combs, and often spread it over a con- 
siderable portion of the interior of the hive. Like the 
pellets of pollen, it is carried on the posterior tibize, but 
the masses are lenticular, 
Mr. Knight mentions an instance of bees using an ar- 
tificial kind of propolis. He had caused the decorticat- 
ed part of some tree to be covered with a cement com- 
posed of bees-wax and turpentine: finding this to their 
purpose, they attacked it, detaching it from the tree by 
their mandibles, and then, as usual, passing it from the 
first leg to the second, and so to the third. When one 
bee had thus collected its load, another often came be- 
hind and despoiled it of all it had collected; a second 
and third load were frequently lost in the same manner ; 
and yet the patient animal pursued its labours without 
showing any signs of anger“. 
Bees in their excursions do net confine themselves to 
the spot immediately contiguous to their dwelling, but, 
when led by the scent of honey, will go a mile from it. 
Huber even assigns to them a radius of half a league 
round their hive for their ordinary excursions; yet from 
this distance they will discover honey with as much cer- 
* Von. I. 4th Ed. 500. > Reaum. wi supr. 437— 
© Philos. Trans. 1807, 242. 
