Posterior Legs of Bees. 129 
48), are about eleven rows of stiff hairs. They are of 
golden color, and very beautiful. These may be called the 
pollen combs, for it is they that gather, for the most part, 
‘the pollen from the pollen gathering hairs of legs and body, 
and convey it to and pack it in the pollen baskets. As we 
have seen (Fig. 46) there are less perfect combs—similar 
in character, position and function-—on the middle legs. The 
contiguous ends of the tibia and first tarsus, are most curi- 
ously modified, to form the wax jaws. The back part of 
this joint (Figs. 47, 48) reminds one of a steel trap with 
teeth, or of the jaws of an animal: The teeth in this case 
consisting of spinous hairs. The teeth on the tibia are 
Fig. 49. 
BS. 
Underside of Abdomen of Worker Bee. 
w Wax Scales, 1, 2,3; ¢) 5,6 Segments of Abdomen, in order. 
strong and prominent. The function of these wax jaws is 
doubtless to grasp and remove the wax scales from the 
wax pockets, and carry them to the jaws of the bees. 
These wax jaws are not found in queens or drones, nor in 
other than wax-producing bees. They are well developed 
in Trigona and Melipona, and less, though plainly marked | 
in bombus. Girard gives this explanation in his admirable 
work Les Adeilles; and as he is no plagiarist, as he gives 
fullest credit to others, he may be the discoverer of these wax 
jaws. Ifheisnot,I know not whois. As before stated there 
are six segments to the abdomen, in the queen and worker 
bee (Fig. 49), and seven in the male. Each of these abdom- 
inal rings consists of a dorsal piece or plate-—tergite and pleu- 
rite united—which bears the spiracle, and which overlaps 
the ventral plate or sternite. These plates are strengthened 
with chitine. These rings are connected with a membrane, 
