INSECTS: THEIR FEET 141 



and structure, but not more than one-tenth part of its size; 

 one of these, moreover, is smaller than the other. Indeed, 

 the size and number of these organs differ in different in- 

 dividuals of the same species. 



The greater number of the suckers are comparatively 

 minute; but they are proportionally multitudinous and 

 crowded. Each consists of a club-shaped shaft, with a 

 circular disk of radiating fibres attached to its end. The 

 whole apparatus constitutes a very effective instrument of 

 adhesion. 



There is a somewhat similar dilatation of the first joints 

 of the tarsus, but for a very different object, in the Honey- 

 bee; and it is particularly worthy to be observed, not only 

 for the interesting part which it plays in the economy of 

 the insect, but for the example it affords us of the adapta- 

 tion of one and the same organ to widely different uses, 

 by a slight modification of its structure. 



It is the hind-foot of the Bee that we are now to ex- 

 amine. The first joint is, as you see, enlarged into a wide, 

 long, and somewhat ovate form, constituting a flattish plate, 

 slightly convex on both surfaces. The upper face presents 

 nothing remarkable, but the under side is set with about 

 nine stiff combs, the teeth of which are horny straight 

 spines, set in close array, and arranged in transverse rows 

 across the joint, nearly on a level with its plane, but a lit- 

 -tle projecting, and so ordered that the tips of one comb 

 slightly overlap the bases of the next. We see them in 

 this example very distinct, because their color, a olear red- 

 dish-brown, contrasts with a multitude of tiny globules of 

 a pale yellow hue, like minute eggs, which are entangled 

 in the combs. 



Now these globules serve to illustrate the object of this 



