108 Pollen and Propolis. 



fanciful conjecture probably arose from seeing the pollen balls 

 on the bees' legs. 



Even such scientists as Reaumur, Bonnet, Swammerdam, 

 and many apiarists of the last century, thought they saw in 

 these pollen-balls the source of wax. But Huber, John 

 Hunter, Duchet, Wildman, and others, noticed the presence 

 and function of the wax-scales already described, and were 

 aware that the pollen served a different purpose. 



This substance, like nectar, iS not secreted nor manufactured 

 by the bees, only collected. The bees usually^ obtain it from 

 the stamens of flowers ; but if they gain access to flour 

 when there is no bloom, they will take this in lieu of pollen,. 

 in which case the former term used above becomes a misnomer, 

 though usually the bee-bread consists almost wholly of pollen. 



As already intimated, the pollen is conveyed in the pollen- 

 baskets (Fig. 25, Tp) of the posterior legs, to which it is con- 

 veyed by the other legs, and compressed into little oval 

 masses. The motions in this conveyance are exceedingly 

 rapid. The bees not infrequently come to the hives not only 

 with replete pollen-baskets but with their whole under surface 

 thoroughly dusted. Dissection will also show that the same 

 bee may have her sucking stomach distended with . honey. 

 Thus the bees make the most of their opportunities. It is a 

 curious fact, noticed even by Aristotle, that the bees, during 

 any trip, almost always gather only a single kind of pollen, or 

 only gather from one species of bloom. Hence, while differ- 

 ent bees may have different colors of pollen, the pellets of 

 bee-bread on any single bee will be uniform in color through- 

 out. It is possible that the material is more easily collected 

 and compacted when homogeneous. It seems more probable 

 that they prefer the poUen of certain plants, and work on such 

 species so long as they yield the desired food. From this fact 

 we see why bees cause no intercrossing of species of plants ; 

 they only intermix the pollen of different plants of the same 

 species. 



• The pollen is usually deposited in the small or worker cells, 

 and is unloaded by a scraping motion of the posterior legs, 

 the pollen baskets being first lowered into the cells. The bee 

 thus freed, leaves the wheat-like masses to be packed by other 

 bees. The cells, which may or may not have the same color 

 of pollen throughout, are never filled quite to the top, and not 



