HYMENOPTERA. 1 63 



Of the honeybees, the legs at the base, the thorax, 

 and the abdomen are covered with flexible branching 

 hairs which are for the purpose of gathering up the sticky 

 pollen from the flowers visited. When the body surface 

 is pretty well loaded, these pollen grains are combed 

 out into the pollen bags on the outer side of each hind leg. 

 If you watch one of the foraging bees, you may see her 

 cross the hind legs and scrape the pollen grains into the 



Fig. 67. — Ventral aspect of worker honeybee, showing the four pairs of wax 

 scales. {Folsom, after Cheshire.) 



pollen bag on the opposite side of the body by means of 

 the pollen combs on the inner surface of the hind legs. 

 Arrived at the nest, the hind legs are thrust into the cell 

 and the pollen load is pried out by the pollen spur. This 

 spur is also used in cleaning the wings, and is possessed 

 by the queen and the drones also; but the other pollen 

 adaptations are possessed by the workers only. 



In the making of wax the workers eat a large amount 

 of honey, then hang themselves together from the ceiling 

 of the hive in a curtain, each bee clinging to the bee above 

 it and the bees uppermost to the hive roof. These 

 wax-workers seem to hang quietly, but they are really 

 working very hard. They must in some manner bring 



