INSECTS I THEIB FEET. 119 



part of its size ; one of these, moreover, is smaller than 

 the other. Indeed, the size and number of these organs 

 differ in different individuals of the same species. 



The greater number of the suckers are comparatively 

 minute ; but they are proportionally multitudinous and 

 crowded. Each consists of a club-shaped shaft, with a 

 circular disk of radiating fibres attached to its end. The 

 whole apparatus constitutes a very effective instrument of 

 adhesion. 



There is a somewhat similar dilation of the first joints 

 of the tarsus, but for a very different object, in the Honey- 

 bee ; and it is particularly worthy to be observed, not only 

 for the interesting part which it plays in the economy 

 of the insect, but for the example it affords us of the 

 adaptation of one and the same organ to widely different 

 uses, by a slight modification of its structure. 



It is the hind foot of the Bee that we are now to ex- 

 amine. The first joint is, as you see, enlarged into a 

 wide, long, and somewhat ovate form, constituting a flattish 

 plate, slightly convex on both surfaces. The upper face 

 presents nothing remarkable, but the under side is set 

 with about nine stiff combs, the teeth of which are horny 

 straight spines, set in close array, and arranged in trans- 

 verse rows across the joint, nearly on a level with its 

 plane, but a little projecting, and so ordered that the tips 

 of one comb slightly overlap the bases of the next. We 

 see them hi this example very distinct, because their 

 colour, a clear reddish-brown, contrasts with a multitude 

 of tiny globules of a pale yellow hue, like minute eggs, 

 which are entangled in the combs. 



Now these globules serve to illustrate the object of this 

 apparatus. They are grains of pollen ; the dust that is 

 discharged from the anthers of flowers, which being 

 kneaded up with honey, forms the food of the maggot of 

 the Bee, and is, therefore, collected with great persever- 

 ance by the industrious insect ; and the way in which it 



