30 BEHAVIOR OF HONEY BEE IN POLLEN COLLECTING. 



returning bees walk leisurely over the combs and loiter among their 

 sister workers, while others appear to be greatly agitated, shaking 

 their bodies and moving their wings as though highly excited. 

 Many pollen-bearing bees appear eager to receive food upon their 

 return to the hive, and they will solicit it from other workers or 

 take it from the honey-storage cells. The workers of the hive at 

 times take a little of the fresli pollen from the baskets of the laden 

 bee, nibbling it off with their mandibles or rasping off grains with 

 their tongues. 



If the combs of a colony are examined, stored pollen will be found 

 in various parts of the hive. In the brood frames the greatest amount 

 is located above and at the sides of the brood and between this and 

 the stored honey. Cells scattered through the brood from which 

 young bees haA^e lately emerged may also contain pollen. In the 

 outer frames of the liive, where brood is less likely to be found, 

 nearly all of the cells may be packed with pollen, or honey-storage 

 cells may be found interspersed with those filled with pollen. As a 

 rule pollen is not stored in drone comb, although this occasionally 

 happens. 



As the pollen-bearing bee crawls over the combs it appears to be 

 searching for a suitable cell in which to leave its load. It sticks 

 tlie head into cell after cell until finally one is located which meets 

 its requirements, although it is an open question as to why any one of 

 a group should be chosen rather than another. This selected cell 

 may already contain some pollen or it may be empty. If partly filled, 

 the pollen which it contains is likely to be from the same species of 

 plant as that which the bee carries, although different kinds of pollen 

 are often stored in the same cell. 



In preparation for the act of unloading the bee grasps one edge 

 of the cell with its forelegs and arches its abdomen so that the pos- 

 terior end of the abdomen rests upon the opposite side of the cell. The 

 body is thus held firmly and is braced by these two supports with the 

 head and anterior thoracic region projecting over one of the neigh- 

 boring cells. The hind legs are thrust down into the cell and hang 

 freely within it, the pollen masses being held on a level with the outer 

 edge of the cell, or slightly above it. The middle leg of each side 

 is raised and its planta is brought into contact with the upper 

 (proximal) end of the tibia of the same side and with the pollen mass. 

 The middle leg now presses downward upon the pollen mass, work- 

 ing in between it and the corbicular surface, so that the mass is 

 shoved outward and downward and falls into the cell. As the pollen 

 masses drop, the middle legs are raised and their claws find support 

 upon the edge of the cell. The hind legs now execute cleansing move- 

 ments to remove small bits of pollen which still cling to the corbicular 



