GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 25 



the habits, in whatever country the genus may be found, 

 can thus be as surely affirmed of all its species, from the 

 knowledge we have of those at home, as if observation 

 had industriously tracked them. Therefore, the techni- 

 calities of structure once learnt, they become perma- 

 nently and widely useful. 



The body of the bee consists of a head, thorax, and ab- 

 domen, which,although to the casual ^ . 

 observer, seemingly not separated ^~^s^cA^ 

 from each other, are, upon closer i-'-'^f^^^^^ ' 

 inspection, more or less distinctly ^%^^^^^'^ 

 disconnected. The three parts are ^"' /^^^^\^..,.^ 

 merely united by a very short and / ) \\ 

 slight tubular cylinder. This is ^"EI_J \j 

 sometimes so much reduced as to \!/ ^ 

 be only a perforation of the parts ^=?^ 

 combined by a ligament, and Fig. 4.— Body of the bee. 



.■t 11-1 , . . «, head and anteniiai ; 6, 



through Wllich aperture a requisite vertex and ocelli ; c, gens, 

 channel is fnrmpd for thp nnsoaffP °^ cheeks; A, prothorax; 



cnannei is lormea lor ine passage ^^ mesothorax; /, sqna- 

 of the gandion or nervous chord, ™."'=^ ; 9' insertion of the 



^ ° , ^ ■' wings; AjScutellum; *,post- 



^Thich extends from one portion of scutellum; /;, metathorax ; 



the body to the other, giving off ' 

 laterally, in its progress from the sensorium in the head 

 onwards, the filaments required by the organs of sensa- 

 tion and motion, as well as all which control the other 

 functions of the body of the insect. 



These apertures form also the necessary medium of 

 connection between the several viscera, whereby the food 

 and other sustaining juices are conveyed from the mouth 

 through the oesophagus to the various parts of the body. 



As this work will impinge but very incidentally upon 

 the internal organization of the bee, it is unnecessary 

 to be more explanatory. All that I shall have to notice 



