The Life of the Bee 



he Apidae, baskets to gather the pollen, 

 nor, in their default, the tuft of the 

 Andrenae, nor the ventral brush of the 

 Gastrilegidae. Her tiny claws must labor- 

 iously gather the powder from the calices, 

 which powder she needs must swallow 

 in order to take it back to her lair. She 

 has no implements other than her tongue, 

 her mouth and her claws ; but her tongue 

 is too short, her legs are feeble, and her 

 mandibles without strength. Unable to 

 produce wax, bore holes through wood, 

 or dig in the earth, she contrives clumsy 

 galleries in the tender pith of dry berries ; 

 erects a few awkward cells, stores these 

 with a little food for the offspring she 

 never will see ; and then, having accom- 

 plished this poor task of hers, that tends 

 she knows not whither and of whose aim 

 we are no less ignorant, she goes off and 

 dies in a corner, as solitarily as she had 

 lived. 



39 



