BEES AND Ff.OWERS. 



477 



of (he liiiid leas, are ^roiipod to fonii a iiiarvclous liKlc hnisli. LiKlc 

 halls ol' i)()lK'ii <iatlu'iV(l together by this covering are iecei\t'(l in a 

 little basket-like depression on the outside face of tliese legs, whei-e 

 thev acfiinuilate and ai-e held by a fringe of curxcd hairs until the 

 woi'knian, linding his rullles growing too heavy, goes bad. to tlu; 

 lii\-e to get rid ol" his burden. For the collection of nectar the 

 adtiptive niodilications are even more perfect and more complicated. 

 With the exception of the mandibles, all the buccal appendages are 

 elongated and grouped so as to form a proboscis, which at rest is 

 folded twice upon itself, and in action is half as long as the body. 

 Hollowed out on the inner surface and stretched out to their fullest 

 extent the jaw-boxes and the labial feelers are joined to form the 

 sides of this organ: (fig. G, nos. 3 and 4) in the axis is the tongue, 

 sharp and rough, which is tipped with another tongue in miniature. 



Fig. 6.— Buccal apparatus of beos. (Acrcording to H. Miiller.) 

 1. Bee with .short tongue, carried on a long chin [Hdlirtiis <iiiadrtcinctur). 2. Head and protaos*cis 

 of Bombiis horturnm. H. Jaws and lower lip o"f the common bee (Ai)is mellifica). i. Cros.s sec- 

 tion of the ])roboscis of the Apis mellijica. 



This tip is creased into a narrow gutter on its ventral surface and 

 is entirely covered with little absorbent hairs. No more suitable 

 inslrunient could be devised for the collection of the li(|uid sugar in 

 the nectaries, for these organs are usually deeply buried in the corolla, 

 sometimes forming a circle at the base of the pistil, as in the 

 Crucifer (fig. 8, no. 2), sometimes relegated to the lower end of 

 the floral spur as in the oichid. (Fig. 4.) Thanks to the absorb- 

 ent hairs on the little tongue, the nectar is drawn in through the 

 capillary groove as far as the canal formed l)y the jawbones and the 

 labial feelers, thence it goes to the ui)i)er surface and mounts to the 

 mouth through the impulsion produced by the dilation and backward 

 and forv,ard movement of the tongue. In oi'der to understand this 

 mechanism one should watch l)ees Avhen drinking water. A month 

 ago at the Laboratory of Vegetable Biology I saw a large number 

 thus occupied; gathered on a bit of moss which covered a little raft 



