Pollen or Bee-Bread, 



159 



and continents untold ages — millions upon millions of years 

 — before any flower bloomed, or any bee sipped the pre- 

 cious nectar. In some specimens of this honey-comb coral 

 (Fig. 55) there are to be seen banks of cells, much resem- 

 bling the paper cells of some of our wasps. This might 

 be called wasp-comb coral, except that both styles were 

 wrought by the self -same animals. 



POLLEN OR BEE-BREAD. 



An ancient Greek author states that in Hymettus the 

 bees tied little pebbles to their legs to hold them down. 

 This fanciful conjecture probably arose from seeing the 

 pollen balls on the bees' legs. 



Even such scientists as Reaumur, Bonnet, Swammerdam, 

 and many apiarists of the last century, thought they saw 



Fig. 56. 





Pollen Grants , 



in these pollen balls the source of wax. But Huber, John 

 Hunter, Duchet, Wildman, and others already referred to 

 noticed the presence and function of the wax-scales already 

 described, and were aware that the pollen served a different 

 purpose. 



This substance, like nectar, is not secreted nor manu- 

 factured by the bees, only collected. The pollen grains 



