Page:Jardine Naturalist's library Bees.djvu/138

134 bees have been observed contracting, by means of propolis, the entrances of their hives, and erecting something resembling barricades with it, when they had reason to apprehend the intrusion of the death's head hawk-moth, a dangerous enemy to the honey-bee, though little known in this country. The name propolis, given to this substance by the ancients, proves that the use the bees make of this resinous exudation in fortifying their dwellings, has been long known. We have one or two amusing instances recorded of a further use which their instinct has taught them to make of this substance. A shell-snail had found its way into one of Reaumur's hives, and fastened itself by its slime to the glass. The bees, unable to remove it, fell upon a most ingenious method, and at a small expense of labour and material, of preventing any annoyance from the intruder. They formed a border of propolis round the edge of the shell, where it rested on the glass, and thus fixed it immoveably. A slug-snail had crawled into a hive of Maraldi's, and was disposed of in a similar manner, though with more violence. The bees immediately surrounded it, and stung it to death. The disposal of the dead body was the next consideration—it was too bulky to be moved by their puny efforts, but they covered it all over with propolis, thus completely preventing the injurious effects that might have arisen from putrifaction. On the Formation of Swarms.—The swarming