tense degree. Life is here at a white heat pur- 

 poseful, Anglo-Saxon ; yet it appears to move with- 

 out fridHon. Occasionally a bee visits the meek- 

 looking pistillate shrub near by, which patiently 

 waits while the buzz and din continue uninter- 

 rupted across the path. 



It is always a mystery just how the honey-bee 

 transfers the pollen to the pollen-basket even in 

 view of the explanation. It appears to be scraped 

 from one leg to the other, and gradually shifted 

 from fore to aft by a dexterous process until lodged 

 in the proper place, the bee remaining all the 

 time on the wing so that the legs are moved with 

 perfed: freedom. Finally it is stowed more neatly 

 and compadJy than any pack-mule's load, and the 

 panniers are good to see, rich and yellow as pump- 

 kins glistening in the corn field. Doubtless the 

 bee is careful to keep the balance and not put 

 more in one basket than in the other. Since pollen- 

 grains are of distinct and definite shapes in differ- 

 ent plants, is it not possible that the insed:, from 

 its near point of view, dete&s these differences, and 

 in place of so much indistinguishable dust, finds 

 itself handling minute cubes, spheres and variously 

 shaped blocks ? 



79 



