Miss Apis’s Tongue. 39 
It is very unwise for Madam Bombus to do 
such a thing, as well as very unkind; for by 
going in at the front door she would pre- 
serve the lives of the flowers that feed her. 
When she goes about slitting open necta- 
ries, she injures not only herself ‘but all her 
fellow-bees; for bees carry pollen from 
flower to flower, as you very well know, 
and this pollen is necessary to the forming 
of the seeds. When the bees go into a 
flower as they ought, they carry some of 
the pollen that has rubbed off against their 
hairy bodies to the next flower they visit, 
which is just what the flowers need. But 
when they break open the nectaries from 
the outside, they do not get dusted with 
pollen, and do not carry it to other flowers. 
No pollen, no seeds; no seeds, no more 
plants; so now you understand why the 
bees make such a mistake when they cut 
nectaries open. 
The honey-bees seldom do this, not be- 
cause they are better than the bumble-bees, 
