61 
gaged in stopping the chinks in their new hives, nothing 
was found in their second stomach but soft wax, having 
already taken, or about to take, the aroma and consist- 
ence of propolis. 
Propolis is therefore a third substance, gummo-aromatic, 
which forms in the second stomach of the bee. This pro- 
polis is produced from the wax itself. When the insect, 
for a special purpose, wants a cement more solid and firm 
than wax, it retains the wax, formed of honey, a longer 
time in its second stomach. A longer cookery, or con- 
tinued elaboration, converts this wax into a new substance, 
which is distinguished by the name of propolis. 
The ancients distinguished three kinds of propolis. 
Pliny the younger mentions it in long detail. But at pre- 
sent it is thought that there is but one sort of propolis. 
Bees use this substance to overlay the interior of their 
hives, and to stop all the little openings which would be 
incommodious, particularly in winter, by the penetrating 
winds which might intrude within their panniers or 
boxes. With this also they envelop the carcases of intru- 
sive animals, which, after they have stung to death, they 
cannot remove from the hive.. These, when embalmed in 
propolis, can emit no offensive odour. 
Independently of the propolis, bees furnish also another 
substance, which the ancients called Erythacé. It serves 
to cement the combs together: Varro and Columella thought 
it better than propolis, for this use. It is less resinous 
than the latter, and much less fragile than wax, says M. 
N. Chambon, to whom it appeared to be a combination of 
the two substances. It is found in pretty large quantities, 
in the upper borders of the combs. Varro and Columella 
attribute to it the property of powerfully attracting bees. 
The illusory pretension has been somewhere advanced, 
continues M. Chambon, that bees can be attracted to a 
hive rubbed with a certain substance. ; 
I take no part in the opinion of M. Chambon. The 
pretension to determine or induce bees to settle in a hive 
which contains some substance which they love, zs no illu- 
sion. Almost every summer, and sometimes in the spring, 
foreign swarms come to me, and lodge with mine, even 
with swarms of the same year, and in simple hives. I at- 
tribute this alliance which they seek, to the custom I have, 
of never receiving swarms, but in panniers or boxes where 
there are combs of the preceding year, and where the fa- 
F 
