Book Description

While working upon the problem of wax-scale manipulation during the summer of 1911 the writer became convinced that the so-called wax shears or pinchers of the worker honey bee have nothing whatever to do with the extraction of the wax scales from their pockets, but rather that they are organs used in loading the pollen from the pollen combs of the hind legs into the corbiculæ or pollen baskets. Further observations made at that time disclosed the exact method by which the hind legs are instrumental in the pollen-loading process and also the way in which the middle legs aid the hind legs in patting down the pollen masses. During the summer of 1912 additional information was secured, more particularly that relating to the manner in which pollen is collected upon the body and legs of the bee, how it is transferred to the hind legs, how it is moistened, and finally the method by which it is stored in the hive for future use. In the present paper a complete account will be given of the history of the pollen from the time it leaves the flower until it rests within the cells of the hive. The points of more particular interest in the description of pollen manipulation refer to (1) the movements concerned in gathering the pollen from the flowers upon the body and legs, (2) the method by which the baskets of the hind legs receive the loads which they carry to the hive, and (3) the manner in which the bee moistens pollen and renders it sufficiently cohesive for packing and transportation.