6 MONTANA EXPERIMENT STATION 



tree hoppers, plant lice, water bugs, etc. ; the Coleoptera or beetles ; 

 the Lepidoptera, including moths and butterflies; the Diptera, in- 

 cluding the true flies; and the Hymenoptera, including the bees, 

 ants, wasps and hornets. It is generally believed that the Hy- 

 menoptera compose the highest order of insects, yet these orders 

 have developed parallel to each other. Of the Hymenoptera the 

 supremacy lies between the ants and the bees, and from the num- 

 ber of specialized organs and products of bees, they may be 

 given the higher place. Carrying the subdivision further, the 

 Kymenoptera, so named from their membranous wings, are divided 

 into two sub-orders: the boring Hymenoptera including the saw- 

 flies, gall-flies, ichneumon-flies, etc., and the stinging Hymenoptera 

 including the ants, wasps and bees. The bees are called the Apina. 

 They are again subdivided into families, the short tongued bees 

 or Andrenidae, and the long tongued bees or Apidae, the honey 

 bee falling, of course, within the latter group. Apidae are again 

 subdivided and we distinguish the genus Bombus or bumble-bees, 

 the genus Megapis or giant bees, and the genus Apis or the common 

 honey bees. The genus Megapis is separated into species and we 

 have Megapis dorsata, Megapis zonata, and Megapis testacea, the 

 giant bees of India, Java and the Philippines. The genus Apis is 

 separated into the following species, Apis florea and Apis indica, 

 the small East Indian bees, and Apis mellifera, the European or 

 common bee. To recapitulate briefly, the common honey bee be- 

 longs to the class Insecta, order Hymenoptera, super family Apina, 

 family Apidae, genus Apis and species mellifera. So the name of 

 the honey bee is Apis mellifera from the Latin apis, meaning bee and 

 mellifera, meaning honey. From the same given root, apis, comes 

 our word apiculture, meaning the cultivation of bees and also 

 apiary, meaning a collection of colonies of bees. 



To return to the structure of the honey bee. We have seen 

 that bees have three pairs of legs borne on the lower side of the 

 thorax. The insect leg is composed of a series of parts with joints 

 between, named from the body down, the coxa, trochanter, femur, 

 tibia, tarsus. There is a tendency among bees to bear upon each 

 tibia a so-called spur. In the first pair of legs this spur is modified to 

 form, with an indentation of the first tarsal segment, a circular comb 

 or cleaner. This is known as the antennae cleaner and serves the 

 bee in cleaning the coat of fine hair on the antennae or feelers. The 



