10 



INSECT ARCHITECTURE- 



detached it from the tree by their mandibles, and 

 then, as usual, passed it from the first leg to the 

 second, and so on. When one bee had thus collected 

 its load, another often came behind and despoiled 

 it of all it had collected; a second and a third load 

 were frequently lost in ihe same manner; and yet 

 the patient insect pursued its operations without 

 manifesting any signs of anger.* Probably the 

 latter circumstance, at which Air Knight seems to 

 have been surprised, was nothing more than an instance 

 of the division of labour so strikingly exemplified in 

 every part of the economy of bees. 



It may not be out of place here to describe the 

 apparatus with which the worker-bees are provided 

 for the purpose of carrying the propolis as well as 

 the pollen of flowers to the hive, and which has just 

 been alluded to in the observations of Mr Knight. 

 The shin or middle portion of the hind pair of legs is 

 actually formed into a triangular basket, admirably 

 adapted to this design. The bottom of this basket 



Strn-turcof the legs of the Bee for carrying propolis and pollen, magnified. 



* i'nilosophleal Trans, for 1807, p. 242. 



