is all ready for her, and she soon settles down
again to her egg-laying, while the workers hurry to bring in food for
the new babies. If there is no hive ready for this exiled family, it
swarms in a tree or any other good place it happens to find."

"Yes," said Betty; "but do the workers have to work all the time?"

"They do everything except the egg-laying. All the pollen and honey
must be brought into the hive by them. Have you ever seen the little
baskets which working bees have for carrying pollen? Perhaps you do not
know what pollen is. Well, some day look right down in the centre of a
flower and you will find some fine yellow powder. That is pollen, or bee
bread, and the bees are very fond of it. On the hind leg of the worker
is a nice smooth place, and on each side of it are stiff, curved hairs
which cover it over. Into this little cage the bees push the pollen,
then fly swiftly away toward the hive. Here this heavily laden little
fellow stands over one of the rooms and pushes the pollen off his hind
legs by scraping with his middle legs.

"You have eaten honey, and know how thick and sweet it is. Very unlike
the sweetened water in the flower-cups, isn't it? The bees make this
honey out of the watery nectar, and I will tell you how they do it. The
bee sips this sweet nectar into its mouth, then the nectar goes down a
tiny tube into a little pouch called the honey sac. This sac opens into
the stomach, but between the two are little lips which guard the
entrance. If the worker is hungry the little lips open, and the nectar
goes from the honey sac into the stomach. But if it wants to carry it
back to the hive the lips stay tightly closed. When the honey sac is
full the worker flies back to the hive and empties it into one of the
rooms.

"Then a number of bees stand with their heads bent downward and move
their wings just as fast as they can, looking like miniature electric
fans. Of course they grow very warm, and this makes the hive warm. This
warm air evaporates the extra water in the nectar, and soon the honey is
all finished. These bees which beat the air so tirelessly keep the hive
fresh and sweet, which is very necessary when so many bees live in one
house.

"The workers make the cells as well as fill them, and now a very queer
thing happens. A great many bees eat a great deal of honey. They eat all
they can hold, then crawl up to the top of the hive. There are as many
there as can find room; the rest han