xxiv. IN SECT A : HYMENOPTERA 373 



with honey, so that after a few hours she is able to take her 

 share in the work of the hive, her first duty being to act as 

 a nurse to the grubs. 



Soon enough new workers have been added to 

 St Food f ^ e PP u l at i n f r tne older workers to be free to 

 go out and collect the nectar of the flowers, -and 

 this they do most industriously, sucking up the nectar with 

 the proboscis and then swallowing it, passing it into a 

 temporary store chamber of the alimentary canal called the 

 "honey-sac," situated in the front part of the gaster, whence 

 it can be readily regurgitated in a slightly altered state, 

 forming honey. Incidentally, they collect much pollen on 

 the hairs of their body as they crawl over the flowers, 

 and this they brush into the pollen-baskets, having first 

 moistened it slightly so that it will stick. Having got 

 their full load of honey and pollen they fly back to the hive, 

 and, regurgitating the honey, they may feed with it the 

 queen or any hungry workers they meet, or they may at 

 once store it in cells in a special part of the comb. Next, 

 they dig the pollen out of their baskets with the prong on 

 the middle leg adapted for this purpose (Fig. 292) and 

 press it with their back legs into other storage cells nearer 

 the brood-combs, where, by other workers, it is further 

 kneaded up with a little honey, forming "bee-bread." The 

 honey is kept safely within the comb, partly by the slight 

 upward tilt of the cells on each side, and partly by its own 

 stickiness, which causes it to adhere to the little roughnesses 

 in the wall of the cell. When a cell of honey is full, and not 

 required for immediate use, it is left for some days to thicken 

 slightly, and then, to keep it from fermenting, a drop of 

 acid is let fall on to it from the sting of a worker, the cell 

 being finally closed with a cap of wax. It is said that the 

 honey, and also the pollen, from different kinds of flowers is 

 always stored in separate cells. One bee may make as many 

 as thirty visits an hour to the flowers. 



Whilst some workers are acting as an escort 

 of the Rive ^ ^ e queen, and others are busy looking after 

 the larvae or collecting food, there is much other 

 work also to be done. Many are still occupied in building 

 more and more cells to keep pace with the ceaseless activity 

 of the queen-mother, and the industrious storing of food by 



