BEES AND POLLEN-COLLECTING 67 



plants with long tubular flowers. In visiting 

 these the pollen is often deposited on the back 

 of the bee ; this it is able to transfer to its under 

 side by means of the brushes on its feet or tarsi. 

 The arrangements of the humble bees for pollen 

 gathering are altogether different from those 

 mentioned above. They have the hind shin 

 outwardly shining and rather concave, with a 

 series of long curved hairs running down each side 

 of it and partly curving over it, so that they carry 



FIG. 8. FIG. 9. 



their mass of pollen in a sort of basket, scienti- 

 fically called the " corbicula" (fig. 9) ; this would 

 be impossible if the pollen were gathered dry, 

 as it is by most of the solitary bees, so the bee 

 moistens it on the flower with the nectar she has 

 been sucking so as to make it sticky, and then 

 transfers it into her basket by means of her foot 

 brushes. The pollen therefore on the hind leg 

 of a humble bee is all in one mass and can be 



