154 THE BEE-MASTER OF WARRILOW 
imaginable colour or shade of colour which is not 
represented in the pollen carried into a beehive; 
and with the aid of a microsope it is not difficult to 
identify the source of each kind. In May, before 
the great field-crops have come into bloom, the 
pollen is almost entirely gathered from wild flowers, 
and consists of various rich shades of yellow and 
brown. By far the heaviest burdens at this time 
are obtained from the dandelion. The pollen from 
this flower is a peculiarly bright orange, and is 
easily recognised under a strong glass by its grains, 
which are in the form of regular dodecahedrons, 
thickly covered all over with short spikes. 
It is well known that the honey-bee confines 
herself during each journey to one species of flower, 
and this is proved by the microscope. It is not 
easy to intercept a homing bee laden with pollen. 
On alighting before the hive she runs in so quickly 
that the keenest eye and deftest hand are necessary 
to effect her capture. But with the aid of a 
miniature butterfly-net and a little practice it can 
generally be done; and then the pellet of pollen will 
be found to consist almost invariably of one kind of 
grain. But it is not always so. The honey-bee, 
as a reasoning creature, does not and cannot be 
expected to do anything invariably. Among some 
hundreds of these pollen-lumps examined under the 
microscope I have occasionally found grains of 
pollen differing from the bulk. Perhaps there are 
no two species of flower which have pollen-grains 
exactly alike in colour, shape, and size, and in most 
the differences are very striking. In the cases 
mentioned the bulk of the pollen was made up of 
long oval yellow grains divided lengthwise into 
