100 THE ANIMAL KINGDOM. 



hooks on either side act as fulcra or props, with which the 

 fly pushes against the substance when it desires to detach 

 itself. The joints above the pulvilli are called tarsi. 



LEG OP DYTISCUS, OR DYTICUS. 



A most splendid object for the polariscope. The Dytiscus 

 is a large water-beetle, common in ditches and ponds, and 

 this is the fore-leg of the male. That large round disk is 

 composed of three joints of the tarsi, which are studded 

 with suckers ; one is extremely large, furnished with radi- 

 ating fibres, and another is somewhat smaller, with single 

 cup-like suckers raised on stalks, altogether giving it an 

 immense power of adhesion. 



FOOT OF WASP, 



another favorite object for the polariscope : the tarsal 

 joints are well seen, as also the hooks on each side of the 

 pulvillus. 



FOOT OF OPHION. 



These toothed claws belong to an Ichneumon-fly, 

 (Ophion), which deposits its eggs in the larva or cater- 

 pillar of a moth (Bomfyx Vinula, Puss Moth). The fly 

 is yellow and has a sickle-shaped body, the ovipositor 

 slightly exserted. (See Hymenoptera Microgaster.) 



HIND-LEG OF BEE. 



This is to show the peculiar structure of the hind-leg of 

 the Hive-bee. The worker-bee not the queen, nor yet 

 the drone has this beautiful contrivance for gathering the 

 bee-bread and carrying it home to the hive. The Bee 

 collects the pollen of flowers, and rolls it into little pellets, 

 which she places in two hollows on the outside of her hind 

 legs, called the baskets. This is done by her mouth and 

 these hairy legs, which help to collect the pollen, and work 

 it into shape and consistence. 



Every leg has ten rows of these hairs, and sixteen hairs 

 in a roV. Count them and observe how short and stiff 

 they are, exactly what the Bee wants for her work. 



