150 THE LORE OF THE HONEY-BEE 
round this oblong cavity is a fringe of incurving 
bristles which look as if they would hold anything. 
But before the pollen can be packed in these 
baskets it must be collected and kneaded together. 
Practically the whole body of the bee is used in 
pollen-gathering. Under the low power of the 
microscope it is seen that hardly any part of the 
trunk or limb is without its dense covering of 
hairs; but with the high objective these hairs 
cease to be hairs, and are changed into actual 
feathers, delicate herring-bone implements, which 
sweep up the pollen as the bee dives into the 
flower-cup for the nectar that lies below. 
Nearly every joint of each leg is furnished with 
a comb of bristles, with which this pollen-dust is 
scraped off and transferred to the carrying- basket 
after being moistened by the tongue; while the 
hind-legs have each a complete, perfectly-fashioned 
curry-comb. Here the leg is widened and flat- 
tened, and covered on one side with nine or ten 
rows of short, strong spines, with which the bee 
scrapes her body just as a groom curry-combs a 
horse. At ordinary times she will carefully pack 
her load of pollen into its proper receptacles before 
returning to the hive, so that it shall be all ready 
for transference to the cells. At the cell-mouth 
she pushes each lump off by means of her other 
legs, and then rams it down into the cell with her 
head. No distinction is made here, every kind 
and colour of pollen being indiscriminately stored 
