PROPOLIS. 
70 
being unable to dislodge it, they covered it all over with 
an impervious coat of propolis. 
1 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 in 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 Ids 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 locomotion, and to obviate putrefaction ; both which 
objects they accomplished most skillfully 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 the latter case, to obviate the evil 
of decay, by the total exclusion 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 ?” 
When any member of a family dies, the bees are be¬ 
lieved by many to know what has happened ; and some 
