BEES. 



359 



mx- 



TRIBE I. ACULEATA. 



FAMILY Al'IARI^E, OK BEES. 



THE chief characteristic of this family is to be found in the structure of the mouth, in which, as 

 already described (p. 286), while the horny mandibles serve as biting organs, the labium is more or less 

 elongated, as are also the maxillae, the lobes of which are flattened like thin blades, which embrace the 

 elongated ligula, the whole forming a sort of proboscis or tongue by means of which the insects suck 

 or lap up the nectar of flowers. The ligula usually bears paraglossse ; 

 the labium has four-jointed palpi ; and the maxillary palpi have from 

 one to six joints. The antennae are more or less geniculate (Fig. 5, B, 

 p. 284) ; in the males they are usually longer than in the females, and 

 consist of thirteen joints, those of the females having only twelve. The 

 eyes have the front margin entire ; the vertex bears three ocelli ; the 

 wings, which have two or three sub-marginal cells, are not folded longi- 

 tudinally in repose ; and the posterior tibiae and first tarsal joints are 

 usually considerably widened, and clothed beneath with a brush of hair. 

 In many the outer surfaces of the tibiae are also a little hollowed, with 

 long hairs growing from their margins, which renders them very service- 

 able in collecting and conveying to the nest the pollen of flowers. The 

 surface of the body is in most Bees covered with hairs. 



The general appearance of Bees is pretty well known. They are 

 generally rather stoutly-built insects, at all events for Hymenoptera, 

 having a head of moderate or considerable size, antennae of moderate 

 length, an ovate thorax, and usually an ovate abdomen, although this last 

 part is subject to considerable variation in point of shape. Their food in 

 the perfect state consists almost exclusively of the nectar of flowers, which, 

 as already mentioned, they lick up with the hairy ligula which forms 

 the central piece of the proboscis. The larvae feed upon nectar mixed with the pollen of flowers, 

 and in all cases live in a cell, which is stored, or supplied at intervals during the growth of the larva, 

 with the necessary stock of food. There is, however, great diversity in the mode of construction of 

 these habitations, which are placed in very varied situations and composed of different materials. 



Entomologists divide the family of the Bees into two great groups, the first of which is distin- 

 guished by having the tongue, or ligula, long and slender, and the labial palpi composed of two 

 long and two short joints, the latter often stuck on at an angle close to the apex of the second 

 long joint ; while the second have a shorter and broader tongue, and labial palpi composed of four 



nearly equal joints, similar 

 to those of the maxillary 

 palpi. The first group in- 

 cludes the most typical of 

 Bees, and especially the 

 genus Apis, to which the 

 Hive Bee belongs ; it may 

 therefore be denominated 

 the sub-family Apidce. 



The HIVE BEE (Apis mellifica) would take a volume as large as the present for the clue 

 elaboration of its natural history, and such a volume might almost be written with less 

 trouble than the short account that our space here compels us to give of it. We must, how- 

 ever, attempt to indicate in a few words the main outline of the natural history of an insect which, 

 perhaps more than any other, has in all ages attracted the attention of mankind. 



The ordinary Hive Bee, as is pretty well known, is a blackish-brown insect, clothed generally 

 with greyish-brown hairs, with slight indications of paler bands on the abdomen. As a social 

 species, it is, as already explained, represented by three adult forms, namely, males, perfect females, 



HEAD OF BEE (Anthophora). 



a, antenna: e, eye; md, mandible; Ir, 

 Inlirum; inx, mixilla; mp, maxil- 

 lary i>almis; (6. laliium; )g, para- 

 glossa ; /;-, labial palpus. 



Queen. 



Worker. 

 THE HIVE BEE. 



Male. 



