38S 



EVOLUTION AND ANIMAL LIFE 



bee community. The interior of the hollow in the bee tree oi* 

 of the hive is filled with "comb" — that is, with wax molded 

 into hexagonal cells and supports for these cells. The molding 



of these thousands of symmetrical cells is 

 accomplished by the w^orkers by means of 

 their specially modified trowellike mandibles 

 or jaws. The wax itself, of which the cells 

 are made, comes from the bodies of the 

 workers in the form of small liquid drops 

 which exude from the skin on the under 

 side of the abdomen or hinder body rings. 

 These droplets run together, harden rrd 

 become flattened, and are removed f:om 

 the Vv^ax plates, as the peculiarly modified 

 parts of the skin which produce the wax 

 are called, by means of the hind legs, which 

 are furnished with scissorlike contrivances 

 for cutting off the Avax (Fig. 242). In cer- 

 tain of the cells are stored the pollen and 

 honey, which serve as food for the com- 

 munity. The pollen is gathered by the 

 workers from certain favorite flowers and is 

 carried bv them from the flowers to the 

 hive in the "pollen baskets," the slightly 

 concave outer surfaces of one of the seg- 

 ments of the broadened and flattened hind 

 legs. This concave surface is lined on each 

 margin with a row of incurved stiff hairs, 

 which hold the pollen mass securely in place 

 (Fig. 242). The "honey" is the nectar of 

 flowers which has been sucked up by the 

 workers by means of their elaborate lapping 

 and sucking mouth parts and swallowed 

 into a sort of honey sac or stomach, then 

 brought to the hive and regurgitated into 

 the cells. This nectar is at first too watery 

 to be good honey, so the bees have to evaporate some of this 

 water. Many of the workers gather above the cells contain- 

 ing nectar, and buzz — that is, vibrate their wings violently. 

 This creates currents of air which pass over the exposed nectar 

 and increase the evaporation of the water. The violent buzz- 



Fig. 242. — Posterior 

 leg of worker honey- 

 bee. Concave sur- 

 face of the upper 

 large joint with the 

 marginal hairs is 

 the pollen basket; 

 the wax shears are 

 the cutting surfaces 

 of the angle be- 

 tween the two large 

 segments of the leg. 



