170 ESSENTIALS OF BOTANY 
slight value to the flower; but many beetles, all butterflies 
and moths, and most bees have bodies roughened with 
scales or hairs which hold a good deal of pollen entangled. 
In the common honey-bee 
(and in many other kinds) 
the greater part of the insect 
is hairy, and there are special 
collecting baskets, formed 
by bristle-like hairs, on the 
hind legs (Fig. 126). It is 
easy to see the load of pol- 
len accumulated in these 
baskets after such a bee has 
visited several flowers. Of 
course the pollen which the 
A, right hind leg of a honey-bee (seen bee packs in the baskets and 
from behind and within); B, the . 7: 
tibia. ti,seen from theoutside, show-- CaIT1eS off to the hive, to be 
ing the collecting basket formed of gtoyed for food, is of no use 
stiff hairs. . : : 
in pollination. 
201. Nectar and Nectaries.— Nectar is a sweet liquid 
which flowers secrete for the purpose of attracting insects. 
After partial digestion in the crop of the bee, nectar 
becomes honey. Those flowers which secrete nectar do 
so by means of nectar glands, small organs whose structure 
is something like that of the stigma, situated often near 
the base of the flower, as shown in Fig. 127. Sometimes 
the nectar clings in droplets to the surface of the nectar 
glands; sometimes it is stored in little cavities or pouches 
called nectaries. The pouches at the bases of columbine 
petals are among the most familiar of nectaries. 
202. Odors of Flowers. — The acuteness of the sense of 
smell among insects is a familiar fact. Flies buzz about the 
Fic. 126. 
