1906-1907.] 507 



single pair. The legs are used largely as tools. With them 

 they keep their bodies clean, with them they put the wax in 

 position on the comb, with them they gather pollen and perform 

 many other functions. On the front pair of legs are two little 

 half circles, the interior of which are lined with stiff hairs, and 

 there is a cap to go over and complete the circle ; through these 

 are pulled the antenna, those delicate organs of feeling, and 

 probably of hearing, which protrude from the head, and so 

 cleansed of all extraneous matter that would hinder them, in 

 the carrying out of their proper functions. The mouth organs 

 are most interesting ; the tongue is a very long elastic member, 

 covered with a sheath, which is again covered with rows of hairs 

 going round it. The worker has from 90 to 100 rows of these 

 hairs ; the point of the tongue is spoon-shaped. Of course the 

 great object of the tongue is the gathering of honey. If a few 

 drops of honey be put in a plate the bee will be seen to almost 

 roll the tongue in it, sO' that the hairs get completely filled, then 

 the Other stiff organs, lips, &c., close round it; they then ex- 

 pand so as toi make a larger vacuum higher up, tO' which the 

 honey flows tO' fill, and so' on tO' the honey sac, in which it is 

 carried till brought back to the hive, when it is discharged into 

 one of the cells of the comb. The eyes of the bee are very 

 complex. There are three simple and two compound. The 

 latter consist of a great number of facets, each of which has a 

 perfect lens. As many as 6,300 facets have been found in one 

 of the compound eyes of the worker, while the drone has often 

 twice this number. The sting is made of three parts — a sheath 

 and twO' darts, which form a sort of tube, down which a small 

 amount of a very irritant poison is propelled. It is a popular 

 behef that the bee goes from flower to flower when collecting 

 honey; but this is not so, as it will be found that the little 

 insect confines itself to one species of flower on eagh journey, 

 which provides honey of one sort, and thus prevents a cross- 

 fertilisation, which would be anything but desirable. 



The lecture was illustrated by a series of beautiful lantern 

 slides, showing the structure and diff"erent parts of the anatomy 

 of the bee. Messrs. Robert Patterson, M.R.I. A., George 

 Donaldson, W. J. C. Tomlinson, and W. H. Gallway took part 

 in the discussion which followed the close of the lecture. 



