The Worker i 5 1 



Pliny says, — 



" Propolis has the property of extracting stings and 

 all foreign bodies from the flesh, dispersing tumors, ripen- 

 ing indurations, allaying pains of the sinews, and cicatrizing 

 ulcers of the most obstinate nature." 



Keeping the hive clean is not one of the least arduous 

 labors of the bee, yet it is done with scrupulous nicety, as 

 Aristotle says, — 



" If any bees die in the hive, they carry them out ; and 

 in other respects the bee is a very clean creature. For 

 this reason they also eject their excrement when in flight, 

 for the smell is bad. . . . 



" It has been already observed that they dislike bad smells 

 and the scent of unguents and that they sting persons who 

 use such things." 



Bees were believed by the ancients to have a particular 

 dislike to the smell of cooking crabs and the bee-masters 

 are advised to keep far from them the " crabs reddening in 

 the fire," for as Pliny says, " The smell of crabs if 

 they happen to be cooked in their vicinity is fatal to 

 them." 



Where bees cannot remove obstructions in the hive they 

 often cover them over with propolis, and there is a story of 

 a venturesome mouse that entering a hive for honey was 

 stung to death. Having slain their foe the bees found the 

 corpse too large to move, and to protect themselves from 

 the effects of its decomposition encased it in a tomb of 

 propolis. 



It is also related that a snail having crawled into one of 

 M. Re'aumeur's hives and retired into its shell at the 

 approach of the foe was firmly glued to the hive floor. 

 Even to the slow comprehension of a snail the situation 

 must have been amazing, not to say agonizing, when it 

 found its house had become its sepulchre. 



