The hive-bee 



8s 



Lbr 



Mn 



trunk.* When the bee explores a deep flower^tube, the 

 proboscis is fully extended. Supported at its base by the 

 maxillae and labial palps, it is firm enough for penetration 

 into a narrow space, while its split tube, completed by the 

 sheathing parts, renders it effective in sucking. When no 

 longer in action, the proboscis can be retracted and folded 

 like a carriage-step. Thus folded, it is completely hidden 

 from view in a cavity behind the head. 



The thorax consists of the usual three segments, but to 

 these the first abdominal is firmly attached. The greatly 

 contracted second abdominal segment forms the narrow waist, 

 the articulation between it and the complex thorax being 

 extremely mobile. In some wasps, ichneumons, and other 

 Hymenoptera the waist is long; in bees it is so short that 

 the abdomen seems at first 

 sight to be attached by 

 its whole breadth to the 

 thorax, and the real state of 

 matters is only discovered 

 by bending down the ab- 

 domen. The prothorax, or 

 first thoracic segment, has 

 a - peculiar structure, the 

 side-pieces being prolonged 

 upwards and downwards so 

 as to form a ring-like piece, which articulates with the head 

 and carries the fore legs. The proper ventral half of the 

 prothorax (prosternum) is firmly attached to the great central 

 mass of the mesothorax. The tergum of the prothorax 

 (pronotum) is developed in the form of the "collar," which 

 looks like a distinct segment, and has often been so 

 interpreted. The head and fore legs acquire, in consequence 

 of the detachment of the prothoracic ring, an unusual power 

 of rotation upon the hinder part of the thorax. The arrange- 

 ment is quite similar in principle to what we find in the first 

 and second vertebrae of man and quadrupeds, where part of 



* The " tongue" of the bee is often identified with a projection of the 

 floor of the mouth, technically called the lingua, but comparison with 

 the simpler mouth-parts of certain wild bees and wasps renders it probable 

 that it is originally two-lobed, and is an expansion of the lacinise of the 

 second maxilla. The matter is not, however, free from doubt. 



Mxp 



Fig. 55- 

 Diagram of mouth-parts of hive-bee. 



