CH. III.] THE HIVE BEE. 63 



heaps. The thighs of the last pair of the insect's 

 legs are furnished with two cavities fringed with 

 hair : these form a convenient little basket for the 

 use of the bee. The dust collected from a thousand 

 flowers is kneaded into diminutive pellets and stuck 

 into these cavities ; and when these balls have been 

 increased to the size of a grain of pepper, away flies 

 the insect to deposite its store in the hive. 



But this meal or dust is not always to be obtained 

 in sufficient quantities : early in the season, before 

 the flowers upon which the bee feeds are generally 

 blown, this pollen is contained in a capsule from 

 which, in its then immature state, it is not easily 

 dislodged. The bee, however, well knows where 

 the object of its search lies concealed — it examines 

 and feels these repositories : having discovered one 

 sufficiently advanced towards maturity to answer its 

 purpose, it pinches the capsule with its teeth, and 

 then takes possession of the hidden treasure. 



When a bee, charged with a load of this vegetable 

 dust, reaches the hive, it enters one of the cells head 

 foremost. The pellets are then detached from the 

 hollow cavities in which they have been carried, and 

 being moistened and mixed with a small portion of 

 honey, they are kneaded into a substance called by 

 the country people bee-bread. An adequate supply 

 of this food is indispensable for the health and 

 strength of bees during the winter season. Bees 

 may be robbed of their honey, and will thrive if fed 

 during the winter with treacle ; but no proper substi- 

 tute has yet been found for this bee-bread. When 

 deprived of this necessary of life, they become con- 

 sumptive and die. 



The gathering of the pollen affords a striking illus- 

 tration of the means indirectly employed by nature 

 to second her purposes. The pollen is the fertilizing 

 dust of flowers ; it is necessary for some of it to fall 

 on a particular part of the pistil, in order that the 

 flower shall give place to fruit, enclosing the seed of 



