506 [Proc. B.isr.p.c. 



Welch, W. J. C. Tomlinson, William Gray, Charles Cunning- 

 ham, Robert Bell, and W. H. Galway ; and, Mr. Duncan having 

 replied, the proceedings closed. 



" BEES : THEIR STRUCTURE AND HABITSc 



On Wednesday evening, the 13th February, a meeting was 

 held in the Museum — ^Mr. Robert Patterson, M.R.I. A., in the 

 chair — when Mr. Hamilton M'Cleery gave a lecture on " Bees." 

 He said when one looks at a bee with any care one cannot help 

 noticing that it has certain, peculiarities which are common to 

 all insects. In the first place it is divided intO' three parts by 

 two' deep constrictions dividing and separating the head from 

 the thorax and body or abdomen; then it has three pairs of 

 legs and two pairs of wings. The body seems to be made up 

 of segments, which move in and out in telescopic fashion, per- 

 mitting the insect to breathe. The whole body is covered with 

 very fine hairs, which serve several dijfferent purposes, many of 

 them being used as organs of touch, the root of each being in 

 a small bulb containing a nerve cell, and those on the under- 

 side of the body serve tO' collect pollen from the flowers which 

 the bee visits on its food-providing journeys. The breathing 

 apparatus is worthy of much closer study. At each side of the 

 body, on each segment, and covered by another segment, are 

 little holes called spiracles, which are covered with a network 

 of fine hairs, and connected with a network of tubes, beautifully 

 made, like an indiarubber tube having a spiral wire through it 

 to keep it from collapsing, and running to every part of the 

 body, even to the ends of the wings. These carry oxygen to 

 all parts, just as blood acts in mammals. Bees are produced 

 from, eggs, but only one bee in a hive lays eggs. She is called 

 the queen, and so prolific is she that in the season when honey 

 is in plenty she will lay 2,000 to 3,000 per day. The queen is 

 the only perfect female in the hive, the workers being abortive 

 females. Bees have two pairs of wings, but, as they would not 

 be as strong for flight as if they were single, a beautiful set of 

 hooks and eyes is provided, so that when the wings are spread 

 out they are interlocked in such a way as to form practically a 



