A ROMANCE OF ANATOMY 151 



criminately stored in the same cell ; and when the 

 cell is full, a thin layer of honey is smeared over 

 all, to preserve it from the air. When, however, 

 time presses, the bee will not stop to knead up the 

 load, but will carry it home as it is, arriving in the 

 hive smothered completely from head to foot as 

 with gold-dust. Then the house-bees gather 

 round her, soon scraping her free of her encum- 

 brance, and she starts off again for another load. 



The fact that insects can walk on both upper and 

 under surfaces apparently with equal ease, is none 

 the less remarkable because we see it going on 

 every day of our lives. Yet the fly, crawling up the 

 window-glass, or running about on the ceiling, 

 owes his power of topsy-turvy perambulation to a 

 very ingenious device. This is well illustrated in 

 the foot of a bee. She has a pair of short, strong 

 double claws, which will take her securely over all 

 but the smoothest and shiniest surfaces ; and it is 

 with these claws that bees form themselves into 

 dense clusters and knots and cables within the 

 hive, holding hand-to-hand, as it were, in all direc- 

 tions. But when there is nothing for the claw to 

 hold by, another part of the foot comes into play. 

 This is a soft, flexible pad, which is always covered 

 by a thick, oily exudation. In walking, the bee 

 puts her feet down three at a time, the pads ad- 

 hering instantly they come into contact with the 

 smooth surface. At the next step the other three 

 pads come into play, while the first three are 



