8o 



QUEEN-REARING IN ENGLAND. 



bee be watched collecting pollen, it will be seen that the 

 hind legs are never crossed, but that they are constantly 

 rubbed together in a longitudinal direction. At the end of 

 the tibia is a comb (3, Fig. 37). When the legs are being 

 rubbed together the comb of the one leg scrapes the pollen 

 out of the metatarsal brush of the other leg into the recep 

 tacle 4, which I have named the excipula. The leg, pre- 

 \-iously bent, is now straightened (see Fig. 38), with the 

 result that the auricle closes on the excipula, compre.ssing 

 the pollen in it and forcing it up over its edge into the 



., /Metatarsus 



Fig. 38. Fig. 39. 



Figs. 58 and 39. Diagrams to illustrate the working of the corbicula- 

 loading apparatus in the honey-bee. p, comb; a, auricle, ah, guiding fringe 

 of hairs on auricle; s, excipula; c, entrance to corbicula. 



corbicula at a spot (8) where there is a gap in the sur- 

 rounding fence of bristles. The auricle bears a fringe of 

 hairs (7) directing the pollen into the corbicula. This 

 process is repeated many times with both legs. The result 

 is that the pollen collects, first at the distal end of the cor- 

 bicula, then spreads, as it increases, over the floor of the 

 corbicula, and finally ri.ses and swells into a great lump 

 bounded by the surrounding fence of bristles. After the 

 floor of the corbicula has been fairly covered with pollen, 

 further contributions are forced in as a wedge between the 



