198 ECONOMIC ZOOLOGY AND ENTOMOLOGY 



bottom and sides but glass top. Over the glass top of this 

 tunnel lay a sheet of black cardboard, which will keep the 

 tunnel dark normally, but which can be simply lifted off 

 whenever it is desired to see what is going on at the entrance. 

 Here can be seen the departure of the foragers and their arrival 

 with pollen, propolis, or honey, the alertness of the guards, 

 the repelling of robbers and enemies, the killing of drones, the 

 ventilating etc., etc. Through the glass sides of the hive 

 itself can be seen all the varied indoor businesses in their very 

 undertaking; the life history of each kind of individual can 

 be followed in detail; the wax-making and comb-building, the 

 storing of the food-cells, the feeding of the young by the nurses, 

 the excitements, the joys, and the discouragements, the whole 

 course of life in this microcosm. 



Practical bee-keeping is based first of all on a sound knowl- 

 edge of the natural history of the honey-bee, and second on an 

 acquaintance with the methods and tools used in handling 

 hives and honey. To the acquirement of the first of these 

 requirements we have just tried to guide the student. For 

 the second we must refer him to some one of the many book 

 guides for such work. Anna B. Comstock's "How to Keep 

 Bees" is a good small book; Root's "A, B, C and X, Y, Z of 

 Bee Culture" is a good larger one. 



Cross-pollination of Flowers by Bees and Other Insects. A 

 means by which insects indirectly render a great economic 

 service to man is by their cross-pollination of flowers. The 

 nectar of flowers is a favorite food with many insects; all the 

 moths and butterflies, all the bees and many kinds of flies are 

 nectar-drinkers. Flower-pollen, too, is food for other hosts 

 of insects, as well as for many of those which take nectar. 

 The hundreds of bee kinds are the most familiar and con- 

 spicuous of the pollen-eaters, but many little beetles and some 

 other obscure small insects feed largely on the rich pollen- 

 grains. But the flowers do not provide nectar and pollen to 

 these hosts of insect guests without demanding and receiving 

 a payment which fully requites their apparent hospitality. 

 This payment is the cross-pollination by the insects of the 

 nectar-providing flowers. The agency of insects in this matter 



