80 
THE HIVE ANI) HONEY BEE. 
are superstitious enough to put the hives in mourning, to 
pacify their sorrowing occupants ; imagining that, unless 
this is done, the bees will never afterwards prosper! It 
has frequently been asserted, that they sometimes take 
their loss so much to heart, as to alight upon the coflin 
whenever it is exposed. A clergyman told me, that he 
attended a funeral, where, as soon as the coffin was 
brought from the house, the bees gathered upon it so as 
to excite much alarm. Some years after this occurrence, 
being engaged in varnishing a table, the bees alighted 
upon it in such numbers, as to convince him, that love of 
varnish, rather than sorrow or respect for the dead, was 
the occasion of their conduct at the funeral. How many 
superstitions, believed even by intelligent persons, might 
be as easily explained, if it were possible to ascertain as 
fully all the facts connected with them! 
CHAPTER VI. 
POLLEN, Oil “ BEE-IiKEAD.” 
Pollen is gathered by the bees from blossoms, and is 
indispensable to the nourishment of their young — repeat¬ 
ed experiments having proved that brood cannot be raised 
without it. It is very rich in the nitrogenous sub¬ 
stances which are not contained in honey, and without 
which ample nourishment could not be furnished for the 
development of the growing bee. Dr. Hunter, on dissecting 
some immature bees, found that their stomachs contained 
pollen, but not a particle of honey. 
We are indebted to Huber for the discovery, that pol¬ 
len is the principal food of the young bees. As large 
