ANTHOPHILA BEES 



I I 



or sub-divisions. The bees are, as a rule, distinguished from 

 other Hymenoptera by the hairs, by the great development of the 

 mouth parts to form a proboscis (usually, but not correctly, called 

 tongue), and by the modification of the hind-legs ; l)ut these 

 distinctive characters are in some of the species exhibited in so 

 minor a degree of perfection that it is not easy to recognise these 

 primitive forms as Anthophila. A few general remarks on the 

 three points mentioned will enable the student to better appreciate 

 the importance of certain points we shall subsequently deal with. 

 The bees are, as a rule, much more covered with hair than 

 any other of the Hymenoptera. Saunders ^ states that he has 

 examined the structure of the 

 liairs in all the genera of British 

 Aculeata, and that in none l)ut 

 the Anthophila do branched and 

 plumose hairs occur.', Tlie func- 

 tion of this kind of hairs is 

 unknown ; Saunders suggests ^ that 

 they may be instrumental in the 

 gathering of pollen, but they 

 occur in the parasitic bees as 

 well as in the males, neither of 

 which gather pollen. The variety 

 of the positions they occupy on 

 the body seems to offer but little 

 support to the suggestion. Not 

 all the hairs of the bee's body 

 are plumose, some are simple, ^"'•.^•—^^\''« "^^ ^«f= A-, ^i^ifi^ ^^H" 



^ ^ ironi abdomen or Osmia ; B, spiral 



as shown in Fig. 5, A, and this is 

 specially the case with the hairs 

 that are placed at the edges of 

 the dilated plates for carrying- 

 pollen. In some forms there is an extensive system of simple 

 hairs all over the body, and the " feathers " are distributed 

 between these ; and we do not see any reason for assuming that 

 the feathered are superior to the simple hairs for gathering and 

 carrying pollen. Some bees, e.g. Frosojns, Ceratina, have very 

 little hair on the body, but nevertheless some plumose hairs 

 are always present even though they be very short. 

 1 Traiu. cut. Soc. 1878, p. 169. 



al 



hair from abdomen oi MegacliUe ; C, 

 plumose Lair from thorax of Mega- 

 chile ; D, from thorax of Andrena 

 dorsata ; E, from thorax of Prosojpis. 



