54 SOURCES OF HONEY. 
to an eighth of an inch in length; on this stem was 
a glutinous matter, that firmly adhered to each foot 
or claw of the bee, preventing it from climbing the sides 
of the hive. He also found this appendage attached to bees 
clustered outside of full hives, but it appeared to be no 
inconvenience to them. Among the scales of wax, and 
waste matter that accumulate about the swarms to some 
extent, he found a great many of these scales, which the 
bees had worked from their feet. The question then 
arose, were these scales a foreign substance, accidently en- 
tangled in their claws, or was it a natural formation? It 
was soon decided. From the number of bees carrying it, 
he concluded that if it were the product of any flower, 
it belonged to a species somewhat abundant. On making 
a close examination of all such as were in bloom, he found 
the flowers of the Milk-weed or Silk-weed, sometimes 
holding a dead bee by the foot, secured by this appendage. 
The flower has a most singular structure, which could 
only be explained. by means of elaborate magnified en- 
gravings; suffice it to say that the appendage which 
causes so much trouble to the bees, is the pollen cf 
the Silk-weed, which in all the species has a singular 
form. Instead of being, as is the case in most flowers, a 
fine dust, the pollen grains are stuck together in little 
waxy masses or scales, and these are joined in pairs by the 
thread-like appendage above noticed. These masses are, 
in the flower, each lodged in a little pouch with only the 
attachment exposed, and in such a position that the bee, 
in moving about over the flower, can hardly fail to touch 
one of them with its foot and pull it out. Were it not 
for the agency of bees and other insects, the pollen would 
not be dislodged from these pouches and brought in con- 
tact with the pistil of the flower. Other species of 
Asclepias besides the one mentioned have a similar struc- 
ture, and no doubt aid in the mischief. When I point 
out a loss among bees, I would like to give a remedy, 
