NOVEMBER 15, 1912 



741 



View from 

 above 



Right hind leg of worker bee laden with pollen of two colors, white and orange. The close dots 

 indicate the orange color, and the remote dots pale orange color ; the clear portions are white. 



ange pollen was situated where no outward 

 application could place it. The repeated 

 forcing'-up of the pollen by the auricle into 

 the eorbicula often causes the pellet to 

 buckle about the middle, as shown in the 

 drawing. Notice, too, the tinge of orange 

 — rather dingy, and only skin deep — on 

 the outer side of the pellet. This, I be- 

 lieve, is the footmark of the metatarsus of 

 the middle leg, which is used to pat down 

 and to shape the pellet as it rises and 

 swells (see page 336, June 1). One can 

 now understand the function of the fringe 

 of stiff hairs around the pollen — the so- 

 called basket-hairs. They gaiide and shape 

 the swelling mass. Those on the upper edge 

 of the tibia stand up straight and allow the 

 pollen here to rise straight up too. But 

 the hairs on the lower edge curve outward 

 and upward, and they make the swelling 

 lump of pollen do the same. 



It is interesting to note that the teeth of 

 the comb situated on the end of the tibia 

 (see illustration, page 173, March 15), that 

 are used to comb the pollen out of the meta- 

 tarsal brush (of the opposite leg) have 

 their tips about the same distance apart 

 as most of the bristles in the metatarsal 

 brush, namely, about 1-25 of a millimeter. 



A suitable name for the receiver for pol- 



len at the end of the tibia is the excipula 

 (Latin, receptacle) ; and for the entrance 

 to the eorbicula, the limen (Latin, thresh- 

 old). 



The clothing on the limen, the function 

 of which is evidently to form a surface for 

 the first contributions of pollen to cling to, 

 varies in different species of bees, and 

 makes an interesting study. In most spe- 

 cies of bumblebees the limen bears a dense 

 coat of moss-like fluff, beyond which stand 

 about three long stout hairs widely separat- 

 ed from one another; but in some species, 

 notably Bombus violaceus, a native of Bra- 

 zil, the fluff is bordered on the inside with 

 fine hairs ; and in B. eonfusus, a central-Eu- 

 ropean species, the fluff is very long and 

 dense, and the long stout hairs are usually 

 reduced to one stunted example. In the 

 honeybee the limen looks bare when viewed 

 from above; but if it is viewed endwise, 

 and suitably illuminated, it will be found 

 to be clothed with fine fairly long fluff. 



Some way, inside the entrance to the 

 eorbicula, near its upper margin, there is 

 a single long hair (not shown in the draw- 

 ing on page 173). I have examined several 

 specimens, and have found this hair pres- 

 ent on each of them. 



Ril^ple Court, Dover, Eng. 



