102 INSECT MANUFACTURES. 



corolla ; but perhaps few are aware that the tube 

 of the calyx contains several drops of pure and 

 delicious honey. On the arrival of each bee, I 

 can at once tell whether it has been a prior visitor 

 or not, by its mode of procedure, Should it be 

 a first visit, the little busy creature is for a time 

 quite at a loss ; it, of course, scents the honey, 

 but cannot discover the entrance to the store- 

 house. Convinced that there is plenty of the 

 object of its search in the flower, the bee hurries 

 over the surface in all directions, now running its 

 head fast between the corolla and the outer double 

 series of the rays of the nectary, now entangling 

 itself amongst the beautiful rays themselves, and 

 anon mounting the stipes, and ransacking the 

 parts of fructification. At length, after a bust- 

 ling scene, which frequently lasts for two or three 

 minutes, and which the bee's certainty that honey 

 is concealed somewhere in the neighbourhood pre- 

 vents its quitting in despair, sometimes apparently 

 by mere chance, at others by running the scent 

 home, its indefatigable labours are rewarded. 

 Now, with its tongue inserted amongst the rays 



