BEETLES— BEES 



183 



larva when hatched. The parasitic bees are likewise without workers, and do 

 not build combs ; they also lack brushes of hair for collecting, and do not gather 

 pollen but lay their eggs in the cells of other bees, where their larva;, coming out 

 before those of the bees they visit, consume the paste destined for these, and thus 

 bring about their starvation. The apparatus with which the pollen is collected 

 consists in the sociable bees, such as the honey-bee and the humble-bee, of the spoon 

 in the tibia of the hind-leg, and of bristles on the hind-tarsi. The solitary bees, 

 on the other hand, may be classified as those which collect with the tibia, the 

 femur, or the abdomen. In the tibia-collectors, the entire outer side of the tibia 





m - • 



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 1 



HONEY-BEES AT WORK 



and tarsus of the hind-legs is densely haired ; the femur-collectors, in addition 

 to similar hairs, have also long collecting-hairs on the under side of the femur, 

 and even on the sides of the mesothorax ; while the abdomen-collectors lack hairs 

 on the legs, but are provided with collecting-bristles over the entire lower surface 

 of the abdomen. 



The honey-bees are easily distinguished by the square, bristle -bearing 

 first segment of the tarsus of the workers being lined inside with hairs placed 

 obliquely; the best known species being the common heney-bee (Apis meUifica). 

 In this familiar insect the brown - black coloration is more or less relieved 

 by longer or shorter reddish yellow, grey, or brownish hairs. A swarm of 

 this species consists of from six hundred to eight hundred males or drones, one 



