APIS. 341 



pollen with the fore feet, and pass it to the interme- 

 diate ones, whence it is taken by the posterior plantse, 

 kneaded into shape, and deposited upon the hind 

 shanks. It dries so rapidly that often, upon arriving 

 home, the bees which store it have much difficulty in 

 tearing it from the legs of these collectors. The hottest 

 days only are propitious to its gathering, for all moisture 

 is injurious to it, and the hottest period of the day, also, 

 is alone occupied in its collection. It is said that they 

 have been known to fly as many as from three to five 

 miles for it, from the circumstance that suitable plants 

 were not to be found within a lesser radius ; but this 

 may be a mistake, for their ordinary excursions are not 

 supposed to range wider than a single mile or something 

 more, and bees may be able to find it where we may 

 suppose it not to occur. In the abode with which we 

 iiave provided them it is not so urgent a necessity, this 

 i)eing already wind-and- water- tight, although in the 

 progress of their labours they find it indispensable, and 

 use it to fasten the crevices that intervene between the 

 bottom of the hive and the bee board, and, as before 

 noticed, to strengthen the support of the cakes of comb 

 which hang from the roof. The name it still retains is 

 that which was applied to it by the ancients, and signi- 

 fies before the city, as indicative of its use in strength- 

 ening the outworks. 



Conjoined herewith is the imperative need for the 

 construction of cells for every purpose of the hive, 

 namely, for the storing of the propolis, and that of the 

 pollen, as also the collected honey, as well as for the 

 reception of the young brood, for the mature queen is 

 waiting impatiently to deposit her eggs. Simultaneously, 

 therefore, is the wax being secreted and elaborated by 



