POLLEN AND THE BEE 157 
bees, such as daisies and buttercups, those accom- 
paniments appear to be absent. The dandelion is 
especially rich in a thick yellow oil, which the bees 
carry away with the pollen; while two plants in 
particular of which the bees are especially fond— 
the crocus and the box—have a large amount of this 
farina mingled with the true pollen. 
It is only within the last century or so that the 
real uses of pollen in the economy of the hive have 
been ascertained. Until comparatively recent times 
the pollen was supposed to be crude wax, which the 
bees refined and purified into the white ductile 
material of the new combs; and a few old-fashioned 
bee-keepers still hold this view, and refuse to believe 
that the wax used in comb-building is entirely a 
secretion from the bee’s own body. Pollen, indeed, 
seems to have very little to do with wax, hardly any 
nitrogenous food being consumed while the wax is 
being generated. 
