88 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



easiness and rage at their imprisonment. Fearing 

 the consequence of this tumult being prolonged, he 

 allowed them to fly out in the evening, when too 

 late to collect any pollen. At the end of five days 

 from the time the experiment was first instituted, 

 the hive was examined, when it was found that the 

 larva or young bees had all perished ; the jelly or 

 food which had surrounded them on the first intro- 

 duction to the hive, was all removed or consumed. 

 The same bees were then supplied with fresh brood, 

 together with some comb containing pollen ; very 

 different, indeed, was their behavior with this outfit ; 

 they eagerly seized the pollen and conveyed it to the 

 young, order was restored in the colony, and pros- 

 perity and happiness again reigned. 



I have tried experiments very similar to those just 

 related (with results that accord exactly with Huber's), 

 until pretty well satisfied, indeed I am quite certain, 

 that mature bees can live and elaborate wax without 

 any pollen ; and I feel equally certain that not a 

 single young bee can be raised from the egg with- 

 out it. 



The little balls or pellets are invariably of the same 

 color of the anthers dust of the flower from which 

 they are gathered, yellow, pale green, or orange, 

 being the most prevalent. In California there are 

 flowers as blue as indigo, from which it is gathered ; 

 in fact, the greatest assortment of colors conceivable 

 may there be seen, at certain seasons of the year, in 

 a sheet of comb that is well stored with pollen. It 

 is a little curious, and yet a fact, that bees will cease 



