22 



BEHAVTOK OF HONEY BEE IN POLI.EN COLLECTING. 



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corbiculse of the two legs receive loads of pollen in a manner similar 

 to that above described. To accomplish this successfully the operator 

 must keep the combs of the plantse well supplied with moistened 

 pollen. If the foot of first one leg and then the other is grasped 

 with forceps and so guided that the pollen combs of one leg rasp over 

 the pecten spines of the other, the pollen from the combs will be 

 transferred to the corbiculae. To continue the loading process in a 



proper manner, it is also nec- 

 essary to flex the planta of 

 each leg just after the pollen 

 combs of the opposite leg 

 have deposited pollen behind 

 the pecten. By this action 

 the auricle is raised, com- 

 pressing the pollen which 

 the pecten has secured, and 

 forcing some upward into 

 the corbicula. Bees' legs 

 which have been loaded in 

 this artificial manner show 

 pollen masses in their cor- 

 biculse which are entirely 

 similar in appearance to 

 those formed by the labors 

 of the living bee. More- 

 over, by the above method 

 of manipulation the pollen 

 appears first at the bottom 

 of the basket, along its lower 

 margin, gradually extends 

 upward along the floor of 

 the chamber, comes in con- 

 tact with the overhanging 

 hairs, and is shaped by them 

 in a natural manner. All 

 attempts to load the baskets 

 by other movements, such as 

 crossing the hind legs and 

 scraping the plantar combs over the lateral edges of the baskets, 

 give results which are entirely different from those achieved by the 

 living bee. 



POLIiEN MOISTENING. 



Many descriptions have been written by others of the method by 

 which pollen is gathered and moistened. Some of these are indefi- 

 nite, some are incorrect, while others are, in part, at least, similar 



Fig. 9. — Inner surface of the right hind leg of a 

 worker bee which bears a complete load of 

 pollen, a. Scratches in the pollen mass caused 

 by the pressure of the long projecting hairs 

 of the basket upon the pollen mass as it has 

 been pushed up from below ; 6, groove in the 

 pollen mass made by the strokes of the auricle 

 as the mass projects outvv.ird and backward 

 from the basket. (Original.) 



