TRAILING A BEE TO ITS LAIR 161 



yellow dust and each time she left the mound, that yellow dust 

 was gone. 



Here then was the first mystery, one which might be cleared be- 

 fore the nest was even touched, and one which was sure to prove 

 interesting. When the little insect returned, for perhaps the fiftieth 

 time that day, she was rudely surprised to find herself fast in the 

 folds of a net which would not yield, instead of in the darkness of 

 her tunnel. But she w r as not to be injured. Her only loss were 

 those two yellow masses upon her legs and then she was free once 

 more. 



The yellow masses proved to be pollen, the seed germs of flowers, 

 that yellow powder which one is sometimes dusted with upon brush- 

 ing against a blossom. Even more interesting was the fact that the 

 pollen was that of the goldenrod, and no goldenrod could be found 

 within a quarter of a mile of the nest! Thus each time the insect 

 returned with her burden of yellow dust, she had traveled half a 

 mile. 



But why does she take that pollen from the light of day and carry 

 it far below the ground, leave it and then hurry off in search of 

 more? Let us follow her into the nest and see. 



When the little bee leaves the sunlight she does not go straight 

 down, but follows a curious twisting tunnel, pitch black, and just 

 large enough to fit her body. Maybe she would rather have 

 it straight, but there are projecting roots, stones and many other ob- 

 jects too large for her to move, and even a bee cannot foresee these 

 obstacles. She must, therefore, dig around them, hence the shape 

 of the burrow, which is seldom twice the same. 



At the end of this subterranean passage is an earthen cell, elon- 

 gated and slightly larger in diameter than the rest. On reaching 

 this little storehouse, for such it is, she removes the pollen from 

 her thighs by means of her other four lees. Then she mixes the 



