68 BEES AND POLLEN-COLLECTING 



removed as such. When the bee reaches her 

 nest this must of course save her the trouble 

 which the solitary bee must have of cleaning off 

 all the separate grains of pollen which are mixed 

 up among the hairs. 



A word or two may be convenient here on 

 the combs and cleaning apparatus of bees. Any 

 one who has watched a bee clean itself will have 

 noticed that the front legs work more or less 

 horizontally a bee will lower its head and 

 bring its front leg over it with a curved motion 

 and that it will clean the sides of the face with 

 a sort of shaving-like action, also that the 

 antennae are apparently pulled through the 

 foot- joint in a remarkable way, often many times 

 in succession. Now the foot of a bee consists 

 of five joints, and is clothed with bristly looking 

 hairs. If these hairs be examined through a 

 microscope they will be found to be more or 

 less razor-shaped, having a thick back and a 

 dilated wing or knife-like blade (fig. 10). In some 

 the blade is of some width, and the edge is evi- 

 dently very sharp : these hairs or spines no doubt 

 do the cleaning work, and admirably adapted 

 they are to the purpose. The antennae-cleaner 



