Chap. 30 ARTHROPODS INSFCTS, SPIDERS, AND ALLIES 615 



The queen is the egg producer of the hive. At the height of the flower season 

 she lays thousands of eggs per day with clocklike regularity, placing one in 

 each cell. Most of the time she lays fertilized eggs, always placing them in the 

 smaller brood cells; these develop into females (workers); if a queen cell is 

 present she places the same kind of fertilized egg within it. Occasionally she 

 lays unfertilized eggs, placing them in the larger brood cells; these develop 

 into males. Thus, the eggs develop whether they are fertilized or not, but those 

 with the double sets of chromosomes (32) become females, and those with 

 the single sets (16) become males (Chap. 18). The queen is a generalized bee 

 with wings and legs and an ovipositor but none of the specialities of the 

 worker. 



Special Structures and Functions of the Worker Bee. The mouth parts, legs 

 (Fig. 30.21) and sting are the external parts especially concerned with the 

 worker's activity; the digestive and respiratory systems and the wax glands are 

 the internal ones. Workers use their mouth parts on building materials and 

 food. The smooth-edged, scoop-shaped mandibles are adaptable to molding 

 wax as well as biting off pollen. The nectaries of plants are located deep in 

 the center of the flowers and reaching them is like licking syrup out of a bottle 

 (Fig. 30.22). The bee does this with its combination sucking and lapping 

 "tongue" that is folded back under the head when not in use. This remarkable 

 instrument is composed of the modified maxilla and labium or lower lip, the 

 central part of the latter forming the "tongue," actually a spoon with a tubular 

 handle. 



Position of leg i 

 when cieoningi) 



antenna - 



Metatarsus 



Torsos ^'.ii^ Pollen"' 



Antenna ■ . 



comb '''*"*' >^1^ Torsos 



Metotarsos "^K. Torsos 



PROTHORACIC LEG ^ METATHORACIC LEG 



MESOTHORACIC LEG 



Fig. 30.21. The legs of the worker honeybee. Some part of each one is a tool 

 used in collecting and manipulating pollen or wax. The wings have been removed 

 and no hairs are shown on the head and body. Hairs are as abundant there as they 

 are on the legs and the sticky pollen likewise clings to them. The pecten is a row 

 of bristles on the hind leg; the auricle is a lobe used as a pusher; these parts are 

 worked together in packing pollen into the basket. (Courtesy, Hegner and Stiles: 

 College Zoology, ed. 6. New York, The Macmillan Co., 1951.) 



