HYMENOPTERA 



991 



Female bees, excepting those of the genus Prosopis and of the 

 parasitic bees, are furnished with pollen-brushes or scopce, for collect- 

 ing and transporting pollen. In most bees these consist of brushes of 

 hairs borne by the hind legs, but in the Megachilidae the brush is on 

 the ventral side of the abdomen. 



In some bees the pollen brushes are restricted to the tibia and the 

 metatarsus of the hind legs, in others they are borne on these two 

 segments and on the femur, trochanter and coxa as well (Fig. 12 15). 

 With the queens and workers of the nest-building bumblebees and 

 with the workers of the honey-bee the pollen carrying apparatus is 



Fig. 1215. — Hind leg of 

 female of Colletes. (From 

 Brane.) 



Fig. 1 2 16. — A. Inner surface of the left hind leg 

 of a worker honey-bee; B. Outer surface of 

 the same. (After D. B. Casteel.) 



very highly specialized (Fig. 12 16). On the outir surface of the tibia 

 of the hind legs there is a smooth area which is imargined on each side 

 by a fringe of long ciu'ved hairs; this structure is known as the pollen 

 basket or corhicula; and on the inner surface of the metatarsus, 

 termed planta by some writers, there is a brush of stiff hairs by means 

 of which the bee gathers the pollen from its body. In the honey-bee 

 the hairs composing this brush are arranged in transverse rows and 

 are termed the pollen combs. 



The mouth-parts differ greatly in form in the different groups of 

 bees; this is especially true of the maxillae and labitmi, which together 

 constitute the proboscis, used for extracting nectar from flowers. 

 The mandibles are, fitted for chewing and do not vary so much in 

 form. 



