HYMENOPTERA. 



327 



the baskets which the hind legs form. The working bee, when it has 

 gathered it, pushes it into the cell, pressing it with its hind-legs. 

 Another then arrives, and kneads up the mass to make it adhesive. 

 The bee brings the honey in its first stomach, and disgorges it into 

 one of the cells where it is to be kept. However, it is not always by 



Fig. 319. Interior of a Hive. 



carrying its honey into a cell that the worker is relieved of it, often 

 finding an opportunity to deliver it on the way. 



"When it meets," says Reaumur,* "any of its companions who 

 want food, and who have not had time to go and get any, it stops, 

 erects and stretches out its trunk, so that the opening by which the 

 honey may be taken out is a little way beyond the mandibles. It 

 pushes the honey towards this opening. The other bees, who know 

 well enough that it is from there they must take it, introduce the end 

 of their trunks and suck it up. The bee which has not been stopped 

 on its road, often goes to the places where other bees are working, 



* " Memoires pour servir a 1'Histoire des Insectes," tome v., p. 449. 



