20 AUSTRALIAN BEE LORE AND BEE CULTURE • 



that hole 1 Yes. I want to draw your attention to these. You 

 see that one with lumps of yellow clayey-looking material on her 

 hinder legs. Well, that is pollen ; they get it from the anthers of 

 flowers. Many people think it is the wax, but it is not. It is the 

 stuff they make bee-bread with. What is bee-bread? When we 

 open the hive I will show you some and tell you all about it. There 

 are some bees going into the hive without, apparently, any load, 

 but nevertheless, they are well laden, but the "cargo they are taking 

 in is honey. Look, I will catch one of the bees that is outward 

 bound, and show you; I must kill her or she might sting. Her 

 body (I am not going to use any scientific terms) is formed with 

 six horny rings ; these are slightly overlapping each other. If I 

 caught that bee away from her home I should know she was going 

 out to work, because the rings are close together and rather over- 

 lapping. Now look at this, one; she has just returned from her 

 field labour. Her body is longer, and there is a little whitish 

 mark between each ring ; that tells me that her honey sac (she 

 carries that internally) is full of honey. From those markings, 

 if I caught her in the street, I should know she was going to her 

 home. What is that — that one covered all over in yellow dust ? 

 That is pollen too. It differs from that carried on the legs. The 

 pollen they carry on their bodies in that way is dry and floury, and 

 they cannot kneed it into little pellets, and stow it away in the 

 pollen baskets on their hinder legs. Pollen from some plants is 

 like damp flour, and from others like dry sand ; the former they 

 can kneed into balls, the latter they carry home between the hairs 

 of their bodies. That little furry bee just gone out is a young 

 one ; that one there is more shiny — she has not so many hairs over 

 her body ; that is the effect of old age and other causes. That big 

 bee just outside that box — is that the queen ? No, that is a drone, 

 or male bee. I can catch him alive ; he has no sting. You 

 notice he has seven horny rings to> form his body. He has larger 

 oyes and longer horns than the workers. Those bees in that hive 

 there are not like those ? No, that is the English black bee. These 

 here with four bright golden bands on their bodies are the golden 

 Italian bee. Look, these bees working in this hive have all sorts 

 of markings ; some have two yellow rings, others have three. There 

 is one all black, and there is one with four golden bands. These 

 are cross-bred. Yes, all these varieties readily interbreed one 

 with the other. I thought cross-bred animals would not reproduce ? 

 Yes, they will ; it is hybrids that do not often reproduce. Is there 

 anything more you would like to know about these bees that are 



