The antennæ are so delicate that the bee can tell the shape and size of any object by just passing them over it. On the antennæ are smell-hollows with which the bee “scents out” the honey. LEGS, WINGS, AND CLAWS On the bee’s body, as you know, are the legs and wings. At the end of each leg is a pair of claws. POLLEN BASKETS On each hind leg of the Worker Bee is a hollow in which she packs the pollen flour which she gathers. These are the pollen baskets. THE WINGS The front pair of wings is larger than the hind pair, and often in older bees who have done much work, the edges are frayed and torn. THE INDUSTRY OF THE WORKER A Worker Bee does not live often over five weeks. She actually works herself to death! Just think. A bee has to visit nearly one hundred flowers to fill her honey-sack with nectar, and when it is full, it does not contain a full drop! WAX POCKETS Under the body of the Worker Bee are the little wax pockets. The wax is very important, as it is used to make the cells in which the honey is stored, and the cells in which the eggs are laid. THE HONEY-SAC The honey, you remember, is carried to the hive in the honey-sac of the Worker Bees. THE BODY OF THE QUEEN BEE The Queen Bee, or Mother Bee, is longer than the Worker Bee and has a tapering, graceful body. She has no pollen basket, because it is not part of her work to gather pollen or honey, her work being to lay eggs—sometimes as many as three thousand in twenty-four hours, equal to about twice her own weight! THE STING Both the Worker Bees and the Queen Bee have a sting to use as a weapon of defense. When enemies, such as mice, or moths, or bees from other hives get into the hive to steal honey, the sting is very much needed by the Worker Bees, as you can easily see. The Queen uses her sting in a different way, as I shall tell you later on. THE BODY OF THE DRONE The Drone Bee differs much in appearance from the Worker and Queen, his body being broad and blunt. His eyes are very large and wings strong. He has no wax pockets nor pollen pockets. His tongue is not long enough to get honey from the flowers. He cannot even find food for himself, and when driven out of the hive, as sometimes in the Autumn, he starves to death in a short time. CHAPTER XXI HOW THE BEES WORK AS I said, the work in the Beehive City is divided up. The Worker Bees are divided into various groups: who forage for nectar; who gather pollen; who guard the entrance to the hive from enemies; who clean the city; who build the comb; the nurse-bees, who feed the babies; the undertakers, who carry away the dead; and a group whose duty it is to fan the air to keep the hive cool. THE VENTILATING WORKERS—THE FANNERS