_Cleanliness of Bees_.

Among other virtues possessed by bees, cleanliness is one of the most
marked; they will not suffer the least filth in their abode. It
sometimes happens that an ill-advised slug or ignorant snail chooses to
enter the hive, and has even the audacity to walk over the comb; the
presumptuous and foul intruder is quickly killed, but its gigantic
carcass is not so speedily removed. Unable to transport the corpse
out of their dwelling, and fearing "the noxious smells" arising from
corruption, the bees adopt an efficacious mode of protecting themselves;
they embalm their offensive enemy, by covering him over with propolis;
both Maraldi and Reaumur have seen this. The latter observed that a
snail had entered a hive, and fixed itself to the glass side, just as
it does against walls, until the rain shall invite it to thrust out its
head beyond its shell. The bees, it seemed, did not like the interloper,
and not being able to penetrate the shell with their sting, took a
hint from the snail itself, and instead of covering it all over with
propolis, the cunning economists fixed it immovably, by cementing merely
the edge of the orifice of the shell to the glass with this resin, and
thus it became a prisoner for life, for rain cannot dissolve this
cement, as it does that which the insect itself uses.[5]--_Ibid_.


[5] For a notice of the application of this cement to useful
purposes, see No. 396, page 283.--ED. MIRROR.


It furnishes a subject of serious consideration, as well as an argument
for a special providence, to know, that the accurate Reaumur, and other
naturalists, have observed, that when any kind of insect has increased