Miss Apis's Legs. 57 



eye-comb. She has to keep the pollen and 

 dust combed out of her eye-hairs — or else 

 how could she see? And when she is 

 combing her v^eyes she i^^ evidently 

 thinks she--^^^^^^^»may just as 

 well, beingy^^^\ ' ^m"^ very neat 

 person, co f ^^plmb her/^head also. 



She cleans oflf her vel myety thorax with 

 the brushes on her middle^ legs, where 

 she also carries a prong for preening her 

 wings, and for prying the pollen out of her 

 baskets. You can see this prong on the 

 inside of her middle leg at the bottom of the 

 fourth joint. You see the 

 pollen is really the flour from 

 which she makes her bee 

 bread, or ambrosia, as it is 

 sometimes called. As she collects it she 

 moistens it with honey so that it can be 

 kneaded into a sticky mass, like dough, and 

 thus packed securely in her baskets. 



All her legs have brushes, and when 

 she is pollen-gathering you can see her 



