APIS. 
351 
variously estimated at from one to three miles, and thev 
make about ten a day. The bees, in their temporary 
distribution of labour, are something like the Indians 
which have caste, among whom each service has its spe¬ 
cial servitor, who never undertakes or interferes with 
the duties of another. The collection of pollen is almost 
as needful to the well-being of a hive as honey, this 
being used exclusively as the basis of the sustenance of 
the new brood in their larva state, in all their conditions 
of worker, drone, and queen, the perfect bee itself never 
partaking of it. It is variously commingled upon its 
application to use with secretions of their own, which 
convert it into bee bread or royal jelly, as the case may 
be, to fit it for its special employment, which is done by 
the nurse-bees, who diligently attend to the nurture of 
all the young. The cells for storing this material are 
not so numerous as the honey cells, and they are jotted 
about without any distinct order, amongst them. When 
a bee arrives with her store of pollen on the edge of one 
of these cells, she turns round with her back to it and 
thrusts it in as fast as she can free it from her legs, both 
by their aid and the twisting about of her abdomen, and 
then, like the honey-gatherer, commences another jour¬ 
ney. As soon as she is gone, another bee manipulates 
it with a small stock of honey, and packs it closely in. 
Whilst all this is doing, the set which watch the condi¬ 
tion of the hive, like surveyors, to apply repairs where 
necessary, or to add strength and further support to the 
suspended cakes of comb, impatiently await the return 
of the collectors of propolis; this they tear from their 
shanks as fast as they arrive and as quickly as they can, 
for it rapidly hardens, especially in fine hot weather, 
and they convey it away for their requirements, whilst 
