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The bee engaged in gathering pollen alights in the heart 
of the flower and moves around, bringing its hairy body in 
contact with the anthers. The sticky pollen grains adhere to 
the webbed hairs of the bee, and, when it has got enough to 
be worth dealing with, the bee rises from the flower and 
apparently flies aimlessly about. In reality it has taken to 
its wings in order to have the use of all its legs at once. 
Close observation will show that the hind legs bearing the 
pollen combs are being passed over the under side of the bee, 
combing out the pollen grains adhering to the hairs. Then, 
by a motion too quick for the eye to follow, the two sets of 
combs are rubbed together and the collected pollen transferred 
to the pollen baskets. When the load is complete the two 
pellets of pollen are bean-shaped, of equal size, and almost 
invariably of one kind of pollen throughout. The bee- 
keeper, standing in front of his hives, sees bee after bee 
alighting on the board with pollen baskets heavily laden, the 
burdens being of different colours according to the flowers 
visited. They are light yellow from wall-flower; a sober 
brown from the clover; golden red from the whin, and 
blue-black from the poppy. 
When the bee enters the hive it goes fussing over the 
comb, shaking its body in a very typical way, apparently 
looking for a cell in which to deposit the pollen. When this 
is found it hangs on to the upper wall with its fore legs, 
inserts its hind legs into the cell, and then pushes off the 
pollen with the middle pair of legs. The two pellets fall on 
the lower walls of the cell, and the pollen carrier pays no 
more attention to them. Another and younger bee presently 
comes along, inserts its head into the cell, and moves around 
for about two minutes. When it comes out of the cell it 
will be found that the pollen has been packed down firmly 
and neatly. 
Honey is mainly a carbo-hydrate, providing energy 
and heat, but does not,contain sufficient nitrogen to be 
used in forming tissue. The proteid or nitrogenous 
element essential for body-building, and specially necessary 
when brood is being reared, is supplied chiefly by the 
pollen, In Britain, pollen is so abundant that old combs 
