GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 



21 



bread, must inevitably lead to the conclusion that the 

 larvfe of bees require more than honey for their suste- 

 nance. Nature is not usually wantonly wasteful of its 

 resources, and if honey sufficed for the nurture of the 

 grub, so much pollen would not be abstracted from its 

 legitimate purpose, nor would bees have this double 

 trouble given to them. By the admixture of pollen the 

 honey has energetic power infused into it by the sper- 

 matozoa which that contains. But it must necessarily 

 be collected, for I never observed, nor have 1 seen re- 

 corded, any instance of the pollen being eaten on the 

 flower and regurgitated into the cell in combination 

 with the imbibed honey. 



Pollen is eaten by the domestic bee and humble-bee 

 to form wax for the structure of their cells, but the so- 

 litary bees do not themselves consume it. 



The larva, when excluded from the egg, is a fleshy 



a h 



Fig. 2. — a, the Larva, when growing ; b, when preparing to change ; 

 c, the head, viewed in front. 



grub, slightly curved, and a little pointed at each extre- 

 mity. Its body is transversely constricted, the con- 

 strictions corresponding with its fifteen segments, each 

 of which, excepting the head and four terminal ones, is 

 supplied with a spiracle placed at the sides, whereby it 

 breathes; and it has no feet. These segments have on 

 each side a series of small tubercles, which facilitate the 

 restricted motions of the grub, confined to the bounda- 



