This substance was once erroneously supposed to be the prime constituent of wax; but the experiments of +Hunter+ and +Huber+ have proved that wax is a secretion from the bodies of wax-working bees[AE], and that the principal purpose of pollen is to nourish the embryo-bees; (it has been called the ambrosia of the hive). Huber was the first who suggested this idea, and it well accords with what we observe among other parts of the animal kingdom;--birds, for instance, feed their young with different food from what they take themselves. Mr. Hunter examined the stomachs of the maggot-bees, and found farina in all, but not a particle of honey in any of them. Huber considers the pollen as undergoing a peculiar elaboration in the stomachs of the nursing-bees, to be fitted for the nutriment of the larvæ. [Footnote AE: _Vide_ Chap. XXXV.] "In spring," says +Dr. Evans+, "which may be called the bee's first _carrying_ season, scarcely one of the labourers is seen returning to the hive, without a little ball or pellet of farina, on each of its hinder legs. These balls are invariably of the same colour as the anther-dust of the flowers then in bloom, the different tints of yellow, as pale, greenish or deep orange, being most prevalent." The bees may frequently be observed to roll their bodies on the flower, and then, brushing off the pollen which adheres to them, with their feet, form it into two masses, which they dispose of in the usual way. In very dry weather, when probably the particles of pollen cannot be made to cohere, I have often seen them return home so completely enveloped by it, as to give them the appearance of a different species of bee. The anther-dust, thus collected, is conveyed to the interior of the hive, and there brushed off by the collector or her companions. +Reaumur+ and others have observed, that _bees prefer the morning for collecting this substance_, most probably that the dew may assist them in the moulding of their little balls. "I have seen them abroad," says Reaumur, "gathering farina before it was light;" they continue thus occupied till about ten o'clock. "Brush'd from each anther's crown, the mealy gold. With morning dew, the light fang'd artists mould. Fill with the foodful load their hollow'd thigh, And to their nurslings bear the rich supply." +Evans.+ This is their practice during the warmer months; but in April and May, and at the settlement of a recent swarm, they carry pollen throughout the day; but even in these instances, the collection is made in places most likely to furnish the requisite moisture for moulding the pellets, namely, in shady and sometimes in very distant places.