SUMMARY. 



31 



surfaces and hairs. After this is accomplished the bee usually leaves 

 the cell without paying further attention to the two pellets of pollen 

 although some collecting bees will stick the head into the cell, possi- 

 bly to assure themselves that the pollen is properly deposited. It has 

 been stated by some (Cheshire, for example) that the spur upon the 

 middle leg is used to help pry the pollen mass from the corbicula. 

 This structure is in close proximity with the mass while the middle 

 leg is pushing downward upon it, but its small size renders difficult 

 an exact estimate of its value in this connection. It is certainly true 

 that the entire planta of the middle leg' is thrust beneath the upper 

 end of the pollen mass, but the spur may be used as an entering 

 wedge. 



Pollen masses which have been dropped by the collecting bee may 

 remain for some time within the cell without further treatment, but 

 usually another worker attends to the packing of the pollen shortly 

 after it has been deposited. To accomplish this the worker enters the 

 cell head first, seizes the pollen pellets with its mandibles, breaks 

 them up somewhat or flattens them out, probably mingles additional 

 fluid with the pollen, and tamps down the mass securely in the bot- 

 tom of the cell. As is shown by the analyses of corbicular pollen and 

 of stored pollen, certain substances are added to the pollen after the 

 collecting bee leaves it in the cell. Sugar is certainly added, and it is 

 generally supposed that secretions from some of the salivary glands 

 are mixed with the pollen after deposition. It appears probable that 

 the stored pollen or " beebread " is changed somewhat in chemical 

 composition through the action of the fluids which have been added 

 to it, either during the process of collection, at the time of packing, 

 or later. 



SUMMARY. 



PoUen m^-y be collected by the worker bee upon its mouthparts, 

 upon the brushes of its legs, and upon the hairy, surface of its body. 

 When the bee collects from small flowers, or when the supply is not 

 abundant, the mouthparts are chiefly instrumental in obtaining the 

 poUen. 



The specialized leg brushes of the worker are used to assemble the 

 pollen, collecting it from the body parts to which it first adheres and 

 transporting it to the pollen baskets or corbiculse of the hind legs. In 

 this manipulation the forelegs gather pollen from the mouthparts and 

 head; the middle legs, from the forelegs and from the thorax; the 

 hind legs, from the middle legs and from the abdomen. 



The pollen baskets are not loaded by the crossing over of one hind 

 leg upon the other or to any great extent by the crossing of the middle 

 legs over the corbiculse. The middle legs deposit their loads upon the 



