CHAPTER XVIII 



A COMPARISON OF DIFFERENT TYPES OF INSECTS; STRUCTURE 



OF THE BEE, FLY, AND BEETLE 



SECTION IX. ANATOMY OF THE HONEY-BEE (SECOND TYPE OF 



THE CLASS INSECTA) 



Material. The ordinary honey-bee can be easily collected for this work, and 

 should be in as fresh a condition as possible. While alcoholic specimens will 

 do, it is much better to furnish the students with fresh material, or to dry the 

 specimens and place them in a moist chamber about two hours before using. 

 It is almost imperative that the students be supplied with prepared slides of 

 the legs to supplement the dry material. As this section's work will not deal 

 with the mouth-parts, prepared slides of these will not be needed until later. 







1. General anatomy of the honey-bee. The bee furnishes an ex- 

 cellent example of the specialization of insects, all of the parts being 

 modified for a special purpose. This laboratory section's work is 

 intended to give the student an idea of these modifications, with 

 the exception of the mouth-parts, which will be studied later. The 

 plan of structure does not differ much from that of the locust ; the 

 student, however, should notice the following points : 



Exercise 26. Write out a careful comparison of the bee and locust as follows : 



1. The nature of the body covering. 



2. The segmentation of the body. 



3. The divisions of the body. 



4. The number and position of the appendages. 



5. The structure of the head (except the mouth-parts). Note the compound 

 eyes, ocelli, and antennae. 



2. Modifications of the prothoracic leg. Carefully remove the 

 prothoracic legs and mount in the glycerin solution. Compare 

 with the prepared slides and notice the following points (the gen- 

 eral divisions of the leg are the same as those of the locust) : 



a. The coxa. This basal piece is a rather large, triangular seg- 

 ment attached to the prothorax. 



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