622 THE MICROSCOPE. 



care is to fill the very ingenious pockets situated in its 

 hind legs (one of which is shown at No. 2) with bee-bread ; 

 when these little pockets are filled with as much pollen 

 as the bee can conveniently carry, it flies back to the hive 

 with its valuable load, where it is speedily assisted to 

 unload by its fellow- workers ; the pollen is at once 

 kneaded and packed closely in the cells provided for its 

 preservation. The quantity of this collected in one day 

 by a single hive during favourable weather is said to be 

 at least a pound ; this chiefly constitutes the food of the 

 working-bees in the hive. The wax is another secretion 

 exuding through the skin of the insect ; it is found in 

 little pouches in the under-part of the body, but is not 

 collected and brought home ready for use, as has been 

 generally supposed. The waxen walls of the cells are, 

 when completed, strengthened by a varnish, called pro- 

 polis, collected from the buds of the poplar and other 

 trees, and besmeared over by the aid of the wonderful 

 apparatus represented in the engraving. If a bee is 

 attentively observed as it settles down upon a flower, 

 the activity and promptitude with which it uses the 

 apparatus is truly surprising ; it lengthens the tongue, 

 applies it to the bottom of the petals, then shortens it, 

 bending and turning it in all possible directions, for the 

 purpose of exploring the interior, and removing the pollen. 

 In the words of Brook : 



" The dainty suckle and the fragrant thyme, 

 By chemical reduction they sublime ; 

 Their sweets with bland attempering suction strain, 

 And curious through their neat alembics drain ; 

 Imbib'd recluse, the pure secretions glide, 

 And vital warmth concocts th' ambrosial tide." 



The leading characteristic of the vast order Coleoptera, 

 Beetles, consists in the leathery or horny texture of the 

 anterior wings (elytra), which serve as sheaths for the 

 posterior wings in repose, and generally meet in a straight 

 line down the back. 



The elytra present us with wing-cases of many Curculios, 

 Diamond beetles, the most brilliant of opaque objects. 

 Some are improved by being mounted in Canada balsam, 

 whilst others are more or less injured by it : a trial of a 

 small portion, by first touching it with turpentine, decides 



