No worms invade, no foul miasmas rise."
_Evans._

"In these cases who can withhold his 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
skilfully 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?"

"If in the insect, Season's twilight ray
Sheds on the darkling mind a doubtful day,
Plain is the steady light her _Instincts_ yield,
To point the road o'er life's unvaried field;
If few these instincts, to the destined goal,
With surer coarse, their straiten'd currents roll."
_Evans._

FOOTNOTES:

[10] Bevan.

[11] Some very extraordinary instances are related of the protraction of
life in snails. After they had lain in a cabinet above fifteen years,
immersing them in water caused them to revive and crawl out of their
shells.

CHAPTER VI.

POLLEN, OR BEE-BREAD.

This substance is gathered by the bees from the flowers, or blossoms,
and is used _for the nourishment of their young_. Repeated experiments
have proved that no brood can be raised in a hive, unless the bees are
supplied with it. It contains none of the elements of wax, but is rich
in what chemists call nitrogenous substances, which are not contained in
honey, and which furnish ample nourishment for the development of the
growing bee. Dr. Hunter dissected some immature bees, and found their
stomachs to contain farina, but not a particle of honey.

We are indebted to Huber for the discovery of the use made by the bees
of pollen. That it did not serve as food for the mature bees, was
evident from the fact that large suppl