FUNGUS SPORES AS BEE-BREAD.
BY W. H. LANG, JR.

WHILE collecting fungi in the vicinity of Austin, Texas, on February
26th, the writer had occasion to observe a very peculiar
and to him hitherto unknown habit of the honey bee (Apis mellifica).
The bees were hybrids between the blacks and Italian, and
were working in considerable numbers on the leaves of the wild dewberry
(Rubus trivialis). A closer examination showed that they were
busy collecting the spores of the orange rust of blackberry (Caeoma
nitens) for bee-bread. They were observed in the act time and again of
collecting the spores and packing them on their legs, exactly as they
collect pollen from the flowers. This was again seen on March 2d, in
another locality. To avoid any possible mistake, one of the busy little
workers was captured and its load brought to the laboratory for microscopic
examination. The balls were of a very dark red, and proved to
be composed exclusively of the spores of this rust.

Lang, W. H. (1901). Fungus spores as bee-bread. The Plant World, 4(3), 49-51.

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