196 Tue Honey BEE. 
have sensory hairs. Many scientists maintain that it is in the 
antennae that the auditory and olfactory organs are situated ; 
others say that organ of smell is in the labrum within the mouth. 
Cowan thinks the weight of evidence is in favour of their being 
considered olfactory. There are two pairs of wings, the larger 
in front, and the bee can at will join the two at each side together, 
the hind wings having a series of hooklets which fit into a trough 
‘in front wings. Bees can fly backwards at a speed of about 12 
miles an hour, but I think this can be exceeded. Young bees 
just hatched cannot fly owing to their trachea not being sufficiently 
charged with air. The first pair of legs has an arrangement for 
cleaning the antennae exactly like a comb, and it has also brush- 
ing hairs for collecting pollen gathered on the hairs of thorax. 
The hind legs are provided with a basket for carrying pollen, and 
also with a pair of pincers for removing wax from the wax plates 
on the under side of abdomen. The foot of the bee has claws 
which enable it to hang on to any rough surface. There is also a 
cushion which secretes a sticky substance, enabling the bee to 
walk on smooth surfaces where there is no hold for the claws. 
The abdomen is made up of six imbricated rings of chitine con- 
nected by a membrane, which by creasing allows the plates to 
pass over each other so that the abdomen can be expanded or con- 
tracted. There are six dorsal and six ventral plates. Bees do 
not breathe through the head, but by openings on the surface of 
the body, called spiracles ; they are double, the inner closed with 
a valve, and the outer, with hairs to keep out dust, lead to large 
air sacs inside abdomen. ‘There are two pairs of spiracles on 
thorax, five pairs on abdomen. Spiracles are connected with 
tracheal tubes, which extend to antennae. Newport says the use 
of air sacs is to enable the bee to alter its specific gravity at 
pleasure by enlarging its bulk, and thus rendering it better able 
to sustain itself on the wing. The ovaries of the queen, of which 
there are two, are placed on each side of the abdomen—they are 
tubular glands. Over each side there are about 200 tubes or 
follicles, each follicle containing about a dozen of eggs, making 
about 5000 altogether. On the ovary on the right side is 
the spermatheca, which ccntains the fertilising spermatozoa. 
The queen allows the egg to be fertilised or not as the egg passes 
out of the ovaries. The wax glands are below the ventral plates 
of abdomen. Wax is a voluntary secretion ; yet can only be pro- 
