Their hives were of various kinds and shapes. Some, like the modern Circassians, they made with fine wicker-work, of a round form and carefully plastered on the inside with clay.[1210] Other hives were constructed of bark, especially that of the cork-tree, others of fig, oxya, beech, and pine-wood,[1211] others, as now in Spain, of the trunk of a hollow tree, others of earthenware, as is the practice in Russia; and others again of plaited cane of a square shape, three feet in length and about one in breadth, but so contrived that, should the honey materials prove scanty, they might be contracted, lest the bees should lose courage if surrounded by a large empty space. The wicker-hives were occasionally plastered both inside and outside with cow-dung to fill up the cavities and smooth the surface.[1212] A more beautiful species of hive was sometimes made with the lapis specularis,[1213] which, being almost as transparent as glass, enabled the curious owner to contemplate the movements and works of the bees.[1214] When finished, they were placed on projecting slabs, so as not to touch or be easily shaken. There were generally three rows of hives rising above each other like Egyptian tombs on the face of the wall, and there was a prejudice against adding a fourth. ----- Footnote 1210: Vir. Georg. iv. 34, seq. Varro, iii. 16. Colum. ix. 2–7. Sch. Aristoph. Nub. 295. Vesp. 241. Callim. Hymn. i. 50. Cf. Wheler, Travels into Greece. Book vi. p. 411. Footnote 1211: Geop. xv. 2. 7. Cf. Theoph. Hist. Plant. iii. 10. 1. Footnote 1212: Geop. xv. 2. 8. Varro, iii. 16. Colum. ix. 14. Pallad. vii. 8. Cato. 81. Footnote 1213: Plin. xxi. 47. Footnote 1214: At present the hives, we are told, are set on the ground in rows enclosed within a low wall. Chandler, ii. 143. ----- The fences of apiaries were made high and strong to protect the inmates from the inroads of the bears,[1215] which would otherwise have overthrown the hives and devoured all the combs.[1216] Another enemy of the bee was the Merops,[1217] which makes its appearance about Hymettos towards the end of summer.[1218] ----- Footnote 1215: Phile gives a long list of the bees’ foes, which begins as follows: Ὄφις, δὲ καὶ σφὴξ, καὶ χελιδὼν, καὶ φρύνος, Μύρμηξ τε, καὶ σὴς, αἰγιθαλὴς, καὶ φάλαγξ, Καὶ σαῦρος ὦχρὸς, καὶ φαγεῖν δεινὸς μέροψ, Σμήνει μελισσῶν δυσμενεῖς ὁδοστάται. Iamb. De Animal. Proprietat. c. 30, p. 104, seq. Footnote 1216: Arist. Hist. Anim. viii. 5. Plin. Nat. Hist. viii. 54. Footnote 1217: Besides this enemy the bees of America have another still more audacious, that is to say, the monkey, which either carries off their combs or crushes them for the purpose of dipping his tail in the honey, which he afterwards sucks at his leisure. Schneider, Observ. sur Ulloa, t. ii. p. 199.—See a very amusing chapter on the enemies of the bee in Della Rocca, iii. 219, sqq.