COLLECTION OF FOOD BY BEES. 



545 



able instinct on the part of the Queen ; and this is further 

 manifested in the fact, that she never deposits eggs in the 

 comb which fills the glasses that are sometimes placed on 

 the top of a hive, as in fig. 287, the temperature of these 

 glasses being necessarily lower than that of the interior of 

 the hive. The " royal cells," as they are termed, in which 

 the larvae of the young queens are reared, are different in 

 form from the rest (fig. 288); sometimes they lie in the 

 midst of them ; but most commonly they project from the 

 sides or edges of the comb. 



715. The food which the Bees collect is of two kinds, 

 the honey of flowers for themselves, and the pollen for their 

 larvse. The honey, which they suck-up by means of their 

 proboscis-like tongues (fig. 289), seems to undergo some change 



Fig. 289. BEE'S MOUTH. 



Fig. 290. 

 HIND LEG OF WORKER. 



in their digestive cavity ; and the part not required for nourish- 

 ment is afterwards returned from the stomach, and deposited 

 in one of the cells, which, when filled, is sealed with a cover- 

 ing of wax. The pollen is gathered by rubbing the body either 

 against the anthers, or against other parts of the flower over 

 which it may have been scattered by their bursting ; and 

 when the surface of the body has been sufficiently dusted 

 with its fine particles, these are collected from it by little 

 brushes with which the feet of the Bee are furnished, and are 

 worked-up into small pellets, which the Insect carries home 

 in basket-shaped hollows, of which there is one on each 

 hind- thigh (fig. 290). The pollen or farina thus collected is 

 worked-up with honey in a mass, to which the name of 

 " bee bread " has been given ; and with this the larvae are 



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