3 1 6 PI! YL UM A RTHROPODA. 



Second Type of Insects. The BRITISH HIVE-BEE 



(Apis mellifica]. 



This is a much more highly specialised type than the 

 cockroach. It belongs to the order Hymenoptera. 



Habits.- -The Hive Bee (Apis mellifica) is a native of 

 this country, and is the species most commonly found 

 domesticated. It is the only British representative of the 

 genus Apis, and exhibits, in its most fully-developed form, 

 the social life which is foreshadowed among the Humble- 

 Bees. As a consequence of this social life, there is much 

 division of labour, which expresses itself alike in habit and 

 in structure. The males (drones) take no part in the 

 work of the colony, and are wholly reproductive ; the 

 females include the queen-bees and the workers. In the 

 workers, which perform all the work of the hive, the 

 reproductive organs are normally abortive and functionless. 

 In the queens, of which there is but one adult to each hive, 

 the enormous development of the reproductive organs seems 

 to act as a check upon the brain and other organs, which 

 are less developed than in the workers. The workers are 

 further divisible into nurses, which are young and do not 

 leave the hive, being occupied with the care of the larvae, 

 and the older foraging bees which gather food for the whole 

 colony. 



In considering the relation between the life of the Hive- 

 Bee and that of many allied forms (Bombus> etc.), it is 

 important to notice that the habit of laying up stores of 

 food material for the winter enables the colony, and not 

 merely an individual, to survive, and must thus have greatly 

 assisted in the evolution of sociality. 



External features. The body shows the usual division into head, 

 thorax, and abdomen, and varies considerably in the three different 

 types, being smallest in the workers. It is entirely covered with hairs, 

 some of which are sensitive, while others are used in pollen gathering, etc. 



The head bears antennae, which are composed of a long basal and 

 numerous smaller joints. They are marvellously sensitive, serving to 

 communicate impressions, and also containing organs of special sense. 

 A pair of compound eyes, largest in the drones, and three median 

 ocelli, are also present in the head region. Of the other appendages of 

 the head, the mandibles are in the workers very powerful, and used for 

 many purposes connected with comb-building. In the first maxillre 



