POLLEN AND THE BEE 155 
three lobes or gores, which were easily identifiable 
as coming from the figwort. The isolated grains 
were very minute spheres thickly studded with 
blunt spikes—obviously from the daisy. The figwort 
is a famous source of bee-provender in spring 
time, and its pollen can be seen flowing into the 
hives at that time in an almost unbroken stream of 
brilliant chrome-yellow. The brownish-gold masses 
that are also being constantly carried in are from 
the willow; and where the hives are near wood- 
lands the bluebells yield the bees enormous 
quantities of pollen of a dull yellowish white. 
It is interesting that all these various materials, 
so carefully kept asunder when gathered, are for 
the most part inextricably mingled within the hive. 
Obviously the system of visiting only one species 
of flower on each foraging journey can have no 
relation to pollen-gathering; nor does it seem to 
apply to the nectar obtained at the same time. It 
cannot be inferred that the contents of each honey- 
cell are brewed from only one source, because it has 
been proved that bees do blend the various nectars 
together when several crops are simultaneously in 
flower. A honey-judge can easily detect the flavours 
of heather and white-clover in the same sample of 
honey by taste alone. But there is another and 
much more conclusive way of deciding the source 
from which a particular sample of honey has been 
obtained. In the purest and most mature honeys 
there are always a few accidental grains of pollen, 
invisible to the eye, yet easily detected under a 
strong glass. And these may be taken as almost 
infallible guides to the species of flowers visited by 
the foraging bees. The only explanation which 
