Function of Pollen. i6l 



vary to quite an extent. As we note that pollen contains 

 besides an ash, albuminoids, sugar, starch, and oils, we see 

 its excellence as a food; it contains within itself all the 

 important food elements. The bees usually obtain it from 

 the stamens of flowers; but if they gain access to flour 

 when there is no bloom, they will take this in lieu of pollen, 

 in which case the former term used above becomes a mis- 

 nomer, though usually the bee-bread consists almost whollj' 

 of pollen. I have also known bees to gather extensively 

 for bee-bread from the common raspberry rust. Very 

 likely the spores of others of these fungi or low vegeta- 

 bles help to supply this nutritious substance. 



As already intimated, the pollen is conveyed in the pollen- 

 baskets (Fig. 47) of the posterior legs, to which it is con- 

 veyed by the other legs, as already described, page 127, and 

 compressed into little oval masses. The motions in this 

 conveyance are exceedingly rapid, and are largely per- 

 formed while the bee is on the wing. The bees not infre- 

 quently come to the hives not only with replete pollen 

 baskets, but with their whole under surface thoroughly 

 dusted. Dissection will also show that the same bee may 

 have her sucking stomach distended with honey. Thus 

 the bees make the most of their opportunities. It is a 

 curious fact, noticed even by Aristotle, that the bees, dur- 

 ing any trip, almost always gather only a single kind of 

 pollen, or only gather from one species of bloom. Hence, 

 while different bees may have different colors of pollen, the 

 pellets of bee-bread on any single bee will be uniform in 

 color throughout. It is possible that the material is more 

 easily collected and compacted when homogeneous. It 

 seems more probable that they prefer the pollen of certain 

 plants, and work on such species so long as they yield the 

 desired food. From this fact we see why bees cause no 

 intercrossing of species of plants; they only intermix the 

 pollen of different plants of the same species. 



The pollen is usually deposited in the small or worker 

 cells, and is unloaded by a scraping motion of the posterior 

 legs, the pollen baskets being first lowered into the cells. 

 The bee thus freed, leaves the wheat-like masses to be 

 packed by other bees. The cells, which may or may not 



