340 
BRITISH BEES. 
but, as their natural habits are not at all perverted by 
their subjugation to man, we will pursue their history 
under his dominion. This will be the more convenient, 
for in the comfortable hive to which they have been 
transferred by his agency, we shall have every opportu¬ 
nity of exactly watching their manoeuvres by the facili¬ 
ties yielded in its being glazed for the purpose. We 
shall thus be enabled to see and follow the wonderful 
economy of the hive and its many mysteries, which it 
would not have been possible to accomplish in an abode 
of their own choice,—some cavity presented by Nature 
herself, the hollow of a tree, or an excavated rock. 
They are, therefore, now housed, and after the survey of 
the capacity of their abode, which is a short affair, 
with all the prompt energy peculiar to them they at 
once commence their labours. The queen is already 
matured, and ready to lay eggs. In a natural abode 
the gathering of propolis would perhaps be a first ne¬ 
cessity to make their home water-and-wind-tight, for 
they abhor the inconveniences of the intrusion of wet 
or cold. It is with this material that they make repairs, 
fill crevices, and strengthen the suspension of their 
combs, which are hung vertically; and they apply it also 
to other purposes, which we shall see hereafter. This 
material is of a resinous nature, it has a balsamic odour, 
and is of a reddish-brown or darker colour, and is sup¬ 
posed to be collected from fir or pine trees, or from the 
envelopes of the buds of many plants, or their resinous 
exudations, especially that of the blossoms of the holly¬ 
hock. It is exceedingly clammy, and they have been 
observed ten minutes moulding it into the lenticular 
pellets in which they carry it home in the corbicula, or 
little basket, of the posterior tibiae. They gather it like 
