THE WORK OF WINDS AND INSECTS 147 



bee procures is a thin, sweet, watery liquid, only the raw 

 material on which she has to work. The manufactory 

 which does what is necessary is within her little body. 



She has two small stomachs — so-called — one being 

 the true stomach, while the other is a minute reservoir 

 or " honey-sac," into which the sweet nectar which she 

 sips is passed through a tube traversing her body. When 

 she goes home with her sac full, having probably by the 

 way used some as food, she gives over the contents to the 

 empty sac of another bee ; and by the latter it is stored 

 in a cell. During such transferrings certain changes 

 take place in its make, altering it from the original 

 thin liquid into genuine honey, good for food of men. 



In both these expeditions, which the bees are said to 

 undertake by turns, perhaps on alternate days, they 

 constantly help forward fertilisation, bearing pollen 

 from plant to plant. 



The question has been asked, " How is it that bees 

 always carry away the right kind of pollen? " It 

 naturally stirs up a counter question : " Do they, 

 always ? " At all events, they sometimes carry home 

 honey-dew, instead of the right kind of nectar, for 

 honey. 



Authorities are not quite at one about this pollen- 

 gathering. It has been confidently stated that they 

 always carry one kind only at a time, and never mix 

 different kinds ; and that during a single excursion a bee 

 will visit only one kind of flower, passing by all others. 

 But a precisely opposite statement, founded on personal 

 observation, is made in another and most weighty 

 quarter. Again, in one direction we are told that, when 

 they reach the hive the various kinds and colours of 



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