VIII 



144 THE HUMBLE-BEE 



from a humble-bee by the yellow markings on the 

 skin of his face. 



Certain two-winged flies of the genera Volticella 

 and Bombylius superficially resemble the humble- 

 bees ; they may, however, be distinguished by the 

 absence of the hind pair of wings. 



The first thing to do in examining a humble-bee 

 is to ascertain whether it is a queen, a worker, or a 

 male. 



Notice the overlapping plates, or segments as 

 they are called, covering the upper side of the 

 abdomen. In the queen and worker there are six 

 of these, but in the male seven are exposed to 

 view. Concealed within the tip of the abdomen of 

 the queen and worker is the sting : instead of the 

 sting the male has a hard roundish organ about the 

 size of a mustard seed called the armature. 



The antennae of the queen and worker have 

 only twelve joints, while those of the male have 

 thirteen, but this is a difference that is not so quickly 

 seen. The antennae of the male are longer than 

 those of the worker and in some species than those 

 of the queen. In all humble-bees the first joint 

 of the antennae, called the scape, is much longer 

 than any of the others, which collectively are called 

 the rlagellum. 



The queens are larger and stouter than the males 

 and workers. In some species the male has yellow 

 bands which are faint or absent in the queen and 

 workers, but the worker is, as a rule, coloured exactly 

 like the queen. The queens are mostly seen in 



