Bees and wasps are cousins of the ants. They have four wings, the front
pair being the larger. In flight the two wings on each side are hooked
together so as to form one broad wing.
We all know how helpful bees are to us. They lay up enough honey to feed
themselves through the winter, and we think this a very desirable
addition to our own table. The wax they make for their houses is useful
to us in more ways than one. But they help us in another way, which is
still more curious and interesting. While the bee is burrowing for honey
in the heart of some deep blossom, the yellow flower-dust, or pollen,
sticks to its hairy body and legs. When it flies to the next flower,
some of this dust is brushed off and falls in the right place to make
the seeds in that flower grow. So, without knowing it, the bee is
helping us in our gardening. Some plants would never bear fruit if the
bees did not carry the pollen from one flower to another.
Next to the ants, the bees are the most intelligent insects we know.
They make wax houses of beautiful shapeliness, and they rear their
little ones with great wisdom and care. There is always a queen bee, and
no real princess is more royally tended than are the princess bees. They
are fed on different food from that of the other babies, and the royal
cradles are of the finest quality.
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