The Life of the Bee 
the Apide, baskets to gather the pollen, 
nor, in their default, the tuft of the 
Andrene, nor the ventral brush of the 
Gastrilegide. Her tiny claws must labor- 
iously gather the powder from the calices, 
which powder she needs must swallow 
in order to take it back to her lair. She 
has no implements other than her tongue, 
her mouth and her claws; but her tongue 
is too short, her legs are feeble, and her 
mandibles without strength. Unable to 
produce wax, bore holes through wood, 
or dig in the earth, she contrives clumsy 
galleries in the tender pith of dry berries ; 
erects a few awkward cells, stores these 
with a little food for the offspring she 
never will see; and then, having accom- 
plished this poor task of hers, that tends 
she knows not whither and of whose aim 
we are no less ignorant, she goes off and 
dies in a corner, as solitarily as she had 
lived. 
399° 
