BEES. 171 



PART VI. 

 CHAPTER XXXVI. 



BEES. 



BEES. We can carefully observe a bee on a thistle top or a 

 roadside flower. It will not harm us if we do not disturb it. 

 There are two pairs of wings very thin, like a membrane, hence 

 the bees are said to belong to the order of hymenoptera. When 

 not flying, these wings fold in closely together; when flying, 

 they spread out and the inner pair hook or hinge on the outer 

 pair, so that the bee is able to carry a heavy load. Perhaps 

 we can see the long tongue which it can thrust away down into 

 the cup of the flower to take up the juice or nectar. This 

 little tongue can be twisted about as 

 an elephant twists its trunk, and it has 

 a sort of brush on the end with which 

 the nectar is swept up. The nectar or 

 sweet juice of the blossom is carried 

 up into the mouth and from there it 

 passes into a little sack called the 

 honey-bag. When its honey-bag is 

 F\K. 81. A bee gathering full it goes home to store away this 



nectar from a blossom. i T r 11 i 



honey. If we could see its legs 



under a magnifying glass we would notice that they are hairy 

 and have some hollows along the side. What are these for? 

 We have before learned that the blossoms of flowers produce 

 pollen. Some of this pollen the bee needs for food, and the 

 pollen is carried home in the hollows of its hind legs. Some 



