﻿BEES HABITS I 9 



bees, have the basal joint of the hind foot specially adapted to 

 deal with pollen (Fig. 25, 2). We have already mentioned the 

 modifications of the legs used for its conveyance, and need here 

 only add that numerous bees — the Dasygastres — carry the pollen 

 by aid of a special and dense clothing of hairs on the underside 

 of the abdomen. 



The buzzing of bees (and other Insects) has been for long a 

 subject of controversy : some having maintained that it is parti- 

 ally or wholly due to the vibration of parts connected with the 

 spiracles, while others have found its cause in the vibrations of 

 the wings. According to the observations of Perez and Bellesme, 1 

 two distinct sounds are to be distinguished. One, a deep noise, 

 is due to the vibration of the wings, and is produced whenever a 

 certain rapidity is attained ; the other is an acute sound, and is 

 said to be produced by the vibrations of the walls of the thorax, 

 to which muscles are attached ; this sound is specially evident 

 in Diptera and Hymenoptera, because the integument is of the 

 right consistence for vibration. Both of these observers agree that 

 the spiracles are not concerned in the matter. 



The young of bees are invariably reared in cells. These 

 (except in the case of the parasitical bees) are constructed by 

 the mothers, or by the transformed females called workers. 

 The solitary bees store the cells with food, and close up each cell 

 after having laid an egg in it, so that in these cases each larva 

 consumes a special store previously provided for it. The social 

 bees do not close the cells in which the larvae are placed, and 

 the workers act as foster-mothers, feeding the young larvae after 

 the same fashion as birds feed their nestling young. The food is 

 a mixture of honey and pollen, the mixing being effected in various 

 ways and proportions according to the species ; the honey seems 

 to be particularly suitable to the digestive organs of the young 

 larvae, and those bees that make closed cells, place on the outside 

 of the mass of food a layer more thickly saturated with honey, 

 and this layer the young grub consumes before attacking the 

 drier parts of the provisions. The active life of the larva is 

 quite short, but after the larva is full-grown it usually passes a 

 more or less prolonged period in a state of quiescence before 

 assuming the pupal form. The pupa shows the limbs and other 

 parts of the perfect Insect in a very distinct manner, and the 



1 C.ll. Ac. Purls, lxxxvii. 1878, pp. 37S and 535. 



