254 



UTILITARIAN ZOOLOGY 



by many special characters. One of the most remarkable con- 

 sists in the possession of a "pollen basket", consisting of a hollow 

 covered by transverse rows of hairs on the inner side of the 

 first joint of the hind-foot (fig. 1184). There are also wax-glands 

 on the under side of the abdomen, by which scales of wax are 

 secreted, this being the chief building material (fig. 1185). The 

 sting is straight, and the mouth-parts better developed than in 



queen and drones, the proboscis in 

 particular being longer, and well 

 adapted to probe the recesses of 

 flowers in the search for nectar (fig. 

 1 1 86). These and other specializa- 

 tions are, of course, related to the 

 fact that the workers discharge all 

 the duties of the hive, egg-production 

 alone excepted. A few of them may, 



Fig. 1184. Part of Hind -leg of a Worker 

 Bee, greatly enlarged, to show Pollen-Basket, 

 above which, on right side, may be seen a pin- 

 cer-like arrangement used for various purposes. 



Fig. 1185. Under Side of a Worker Bee, enlarged, showing 

 plates of wax 



however, be fertile under exceptional circumstances, but in that 

 case their eggs invariably hatch out into drones. Workers born 

 late in the season may survive till the following year, but the 

 rest live only for six or eight weeks. 



The waxen combs made by the workers for storage of food 

 and reception of eggs are suspended vertically, and consist of six- 

 sided cells, of which there is a set on either side of the comb, 

 separated by a thin party- wall (fig. 1 187). The long axes of these 

 cells slope slightly outwards and upwards. The smallest of them 

 are for storage and worker-brood, and there is a larger size in 

 which the drones are reared. A comparatively small number of 



