What do the second player co-op bees do?

I read that a second player can play as "bees" during the single-player campaign's co-op, but I don't appear to be able to do anything besides look around. How does it work?

Solution 1:

Did some testing on this (Xbox One). If idle, the second player's bees will disappear, but pressing A will bring the clunky cursor back up, which the player can move with the analog stick.

The cursor won't automatically pick up quills, but if Yooka/Laylee is relatively close to the quill, the second player can press A over the quill to collect it.

Similarly for butterflies, the second player can press A over nearby butterflies to store them (no immediate effect on the player). The second player can release these from the cursor when later needed with the B button. I've stored at least three this way—good for when you're hurting for butterflies later. (Not sure what the PC keybinding would be.)