272 ENTOMOLOGY 
worker, are used for cutting, scraping and moulding wax, as 
well as for other purposes. The entire digestive system of the 
honey bee 1s adapted in relation to nectar and pollen as food; 
the proventriculus forms a reservoir for honey and is even 
provided at its mouth with a rather complex apparatus for 
straining the honey from the accompanying pollen grains, as 
described by Cheshire. The wax glands (Fig. 102) are re- 
markable specializations in correlation with the food habits, as 
are also the various cephalic glands, the chief functions of 
which are given as: (1) digestion, as the conversion of cane 
sugar into grape sugar, and possibly starch into sugar; (2) 
the chemical alteration of wax; (3) the production of special 
food substances, which are highly important in larval develop- 
ment. 
Numerous special sensory adaptations also occur. In fact, 
the whole organization of the honey bee has become pro- 
foundly modified in relation to nectar and pollen. Many 
other insects have the same food but none of them sustain such 
intimate relations to the flowers as do the bees. 
Ant-Plants.—There are several kinds of tropical plants 
which are admirably suited to the ants that inhabit them. In- 
deed, it is often asserted that these plants have become modified 
Fic. 264. 
ry 
* 
RE 
Acacia spherocephala, an ant-plant. b, one of the ‘“ Belt’s bodies”; g, gland; s, s, 
hollow stipular thorns, perforated by ants. Reduced.—From Strasburger’s Lehrbuch 
der Botanik, 
