54 STUDIES IN INSECT LIFE, ETC. 



the workers are strong enough to go in search of 



honey, pollen, water, or the sticky propolis. 



Both colour and scent in the flowers attract 

 the bees ; their favourite hue is blue and certain 

 purplish reds ; then come in descending order, 

 violet, red, white, and lastly yellow. When 

 collecting the pollen, the bee hovers close to the 



FIG. 7. 



A bee upon the wing showing the manner in which the hind legs 

 are held during the basket-loading process. Pollen is being scraped 

 by the pecten spines of the right leg from the pollen combs of the 

 left. (Casteel.) 



flower and besprinkles the anthers with a little 

 honey and saliva, then approaching the blossom 

 she kneads the now moistened and sticky mass 

 of pollen with her jaws, and finally packs it 

 away in the baskets or corbicula on the outer 

 surface of the tibia of the last pair of legs. But 

 much pollen is collected in a more indirect way. 



