202 THE MAEVEL OF INSECT LIFE. 



Here I may mention that no bee can suck honey out 

 of flowers, as is popularly supposed. She licks it out 

 with her tongue, the end of which is covered with hairs, 

 so as to convert it into a brush, scrapes it between the 

 jaws, and so passes it into the crop, where it is changed 

 into honey. 



What property there may be in the crop which converts 

 flower juice into honey, we do not at present know. To 



CARDER BEES. EXTERIOR OF NEST. 



all appearance, the crop is nothing but a bag of exceed- 

 ingly fine membrane, and yet, after remaining for a little 

 time in the crop, the flower juice undergoes a change in 

 consistence, flavour, and scent, and, whether the insect 

 be a wild or domestic bee, the change is identical through- 

 out. At the end of autumn the males and workers all 

 die, and only one or two of the females appear to survive 

 the winter. 



For its nest the Carder Bee is content with a slight 



