OR, MANUAI< OF THB APIARY. 189 



the bee is on the wing-. The bees not infrequently come to 

 the hives not only with replete pollen-baskets, but with their 

 whole under-surface thoroughly dusted. Dissection will also 

 show that the same bee may have her sucking stomach dis- 

 tended with honey, though this is rare. Thus the bees make 

 the most of their opportunities. It is a curious fact, noticed 

 even by Aristotle, that the bees, during any trip, almost 

 always gather only a single kind of pollen, or gather only 

 from one species of bloom. Hence, while different bees may 

 have different colors of pollen, the pellets of bee-bread on any 

 single bee will be uniform in color throughout. It is possible 

 that the material is more easily collected and compacted when 

 homogeneous. It seems more probable that they prefer the 

 pollen of certain plants, and work on such species so long as 

 they yield the desired food, though it may be a matter of sim- 

 ple convenience. From this fact we see why bees cause no 

 intercrossing of species of plants; they only intermix the 

 pollen of different plants of the same species. 



The pollen is usually deposited in the small or worker 

 cells, and is unloaded by a scraping motion of the posterior 

 legs, the pollen-baskets being first lowered into the cells. The 

 bee thus freed, leaves the wheat-like masses to be packed by 

 other bees, which is packed by pushing with the head. The 

 cells, which may or may not have the same color of pollen 

 throughout, are never filled quite to the top, and not infre- 

 quently the same cell may contain both pollen and honey. 

 Such a condition is easily ascertained by holding the comb 

 between the eye and the sun. If there is no pollen it will be 

 wholly translucent ; otherwise there will be opaque patches. 

 A little experience will make this determination easy, even if 

 the comb is old. Combs in small sections, especially if sep- 

 arators are used, are not likely to receive pollen or be used for 

 breeding. It is often stated that queenless colonies gather no 

 pollen, but it is not true, though they gather less, than they 

 otherwise would. It is probable that pollen, at least when 

 honey is added, contains all the essential elements of animal 

 food. It certainly contains the very important principle 

 which is not found in pure nectar or honey — nitrogenous 

 material. I do not think the bee-moth larva will destroy 



