GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 25 



the habits, in whatever country the genus may be found, 

 can thus be as surely affirmed of all its species, from the 

 knowledge we have of those at home, as if observation 

 had industriously tracked them. Therefore, the techni- 

 calities of structure once learnt, they become perma- 

 nently and widely useful. 



The body of the bee consists of a head, thorax, and ab- 

 domen, which, although to the casual Q ^p 

 observer, seemingly not separated S - '' 

 from each other, are, upon closer <J ^ 

 inspection, more or less distinctly. 

 disconnected. The three parts are 

 merely united by a very short and 

 slight tubular cylinder. This is 

 sometimes so much reduced as to 

 be only a perforation of the parts 

 combined by a ligament, and Fig. 4. Body of the bee. 



. , . t . . a, head and antenna;; b, 



through which aperture a requisite vertex and ocelli ; c, genae, 



, , . f i c . , or cheeks ; d, prothorax ; 



channel is formed for the passage e meso thorax ; /, squa- 

 of the ganglion or nervous chord, ^, ^bgto rfflj 



which extends from One portion Of scutellum ; k; metathorax ; 



, /, abdomen. 



the body to the other, giving on 

 laterally, in its progress from the sensorium in the head 

 onwards, the filaments required by the organs of sensa- 

 tion and motion, as well as all which control the other 

 functions of the body of the insect. 



These apertures form also the necessary medium of 

 connection between the several viscera, whereby the food 

 and other sustaining juices are conveyed from the mouth 

 through the oesophagus to the various parts of the body. 



As this work will impinge but very incidentally upon 

 the internal organization of the bee, it is unnecessary 

 to be more explanatory. All that I shall have to notice 



