222 



INSECTS. 



tarsal-joint (fig. 57, 1, 2, 3 e), and the tibia (d) to which 

 it is attached, are in many Bees densely clothed with 

 hairs for the conveyanceof pollen, whilst in the neuter 

 Social Bees (both Hive and Humble) these joints are 

 also naked on the outer side, flat or slightly concave, and 

 fringed with hairs, thus forming a kind of basket for the 

 reception of the pollen. The reader can hardly have 

 failed to observe the flight homewards of Bees thus 

 laden, their legs appearing enormously enlarged, and 

 coloured red, white, and yellow, according to the colour 

 of the pollen of such flowers as they have been visiting. 

 Thus the mignonette-bed sends out a host of red-legged 

 Bees, the same Bees issuing from the hollyhock are laden 

 with white pollen, and others carry home a store of gold. 

 This flattened form of the tarsus, existing more or 

 less in all Bees, does not however always indicate that 

 each Bee is a pollen bearer, nor does the absence of its 



Fig. 57. 



pollen-bearing accessories prove a 

 Bee to be one which lays up no 

 stores. Thus in the male or drone 

 of the Hive Bee, which takes no part 

 in the collection of provisions, the first 

 tarsal joint is remarkably large and flat 

 in proportion to the rest of the tarsus, 

 but it is not hollowed and fringed on 

 the outer side like that of the worker. 

 In the parasitic Bees the flattening of 

 the joint is observable though not 

 conspicuous, and there are, as might 



1, Hindlegof^mia; be expected, no pollen-bearing ap- 



2, Eucera; 3, Nomada pen dages ; while in others (some of 

 (Parasitic Bee). . . \ 



the oolitary Bees) their place is 

 supplied by a series of brushes under the abdomen, or by 



