1004 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



Aug. 15 



FlG. 6. THIRD (or HIND) LEG. 



tibia- palmar joints. On the first leg it is a won- 

 derful apparatus tor cleaning the antenn;t and 

 the tongue — Figs. 3 and 4. In the upper part of 

 the palmer there is a semicircular groove fringed 

 with solid parallel bristle. In the end of the 

 tibia there is a little movable operculum which 

 shuts the groove when the palmer is bent toward 

 the tibia. When the bee wishes to clean the an- 

 tenme (which it always does before flying up as 

 every bee-keeper has observed, it lets them down 

 a little, puts the first leg over the antenna so that 



the latter is placed in the groove; then it bends the 

 pal ma so that the operculum shuts the groove and 

 grips the antenna. Then it draws l)ack both an- 

 tenna- so that they are polished, and all dirt re- 

 mains on that little half-round comb. The bee 

 does the same with the tongue. 



The tibia-palmar joint of the middle leg. Fig. 

 5, is the simplest. There we find only a little 

 spur which is said to strip off the little loaf of 

 pollen. The same joint of the hind leg is rather 

 complicated. Figs. 6 and 7. It forms a kind of 



