132 INTRODUCTION TO ZOOLOGY. 



requisition, and the corolla of the flower is pierced, so that the 

 honey it contains may be more conveniently procured. 



The little pellets which we see the Bees carrying home on 

 their hind legs consist of the pollen or farina of flowers. 

 Shakspeare has, therefore, given utterance to the common, 

 but incorrect idea, when he uses the words, 



" Our thighs are packed with wax" 



The pollen, when brought home, is mixed with honey, and 

 forms what is called Bee-bread. The wax itself is not col- 

 lected from flowers, , but is secreted by means of peculiar 

 organs, which may easily be seen by pressing the abdomen 

 so as to cause its distension. It is not a secretion which is 

 constantly going on; it takes place only when required for 

 the construction of comb. To supply it, the wax- workers 

 which Huber has proved to be distinct from the nurses are 

 obliged to feed on honey, and remain inactive, generally sus- 

 pended from the top of the hive, for about twenty-four hours 

 previous to the deposition of the wax. 



Mathematicians inform us that Bees have, in their hexa- 

 gonal cells, given a solution to the problem of how the greatest 

 strength may be combined with the least quantity of material, 

 another proof of the perfection of their instinctive actions.* 

 Wax and honey, the products of their labours, become, in some 

 parts of the world, important articles of commerce. The honey 

 of Mount Hymettus, so celebrated in ancient Greece, even yet 

 retains its celebrity, though all around is changed. 



STREPSIPTEKA.f 



Fig. 115. STVLOPS (MAGNIFIED). 



This order consists of only a single family (Stylopidce, Fig. 115) 



* See Paley's Natural Theology, edited by Lord Brougham. 



f The term is derived from two Greek words, meaning "twisted 

 wings" and was given by the Rev. Mr. Kirby, the discoverer of the order, 

 from the first pair of wings being absent, and represented by twisted 

 rudiments." Mr. Westwood regards these insects as "the most anoma- 

 lous annulose animals with which we are acquainted." Vol. ii. page 288. 



