a 



BEHAVIOE OF HONEY BEE IN POLLEN COLLECTING. 



Trochanter^ 



Tibia 



cover the surfaces of the compound eyes (Phillips, 1905). Branched 

 hairs are also found upon the legs ; more particularly upon the more 

 proximal segments. A typical branched hair is composed of a long 

 slender main axis from which spring numerous short lateral barbs. 

 Grains of pollen are caught and held in the angles between the axis 

 and the barbs and between the barbs of contiguous hairs. The hairy 

 covering of the body and legs thus serves as a collecting surface upon 

 which pollen grains are temporarily retained and from which they 

 are later removed by the combing action of the brushes of the legs. 

 Although, as above noted, some unbranched hairs are located upon 

 the body of the bee, they occur in greatest numbers upon the more 

 distal segments of the appendages. They are quite diverse in form, 

 some being extremely long and slender, such as those which curve 



over the pollen 

 Jjoxa baskets, others 



being stout and 

 stiff, as those 

 which form the 

 collecting brushes 

 and the pecten 

 spines. 



The mouth- 

 parts of the bee 

 are also essential 

 to the proper col- 

 lection of pollen. 

 The mandibles 

 are used to scrape 

 over the anthers 

 of flowers, and 

 considerable pollen adheres to them and is later removed. The same 

 is true of the maxillae and tongue. From the mouth comes the fluid 

 by which the pollen grains are moistened. 



The legs of the worker bee are especially adapted for pollen gath- 

 ering. Each leg bears a collecting brush, composed of stiff, un- 

 branched hairs set closely together. These brushes are located upon 

 the first or most proximal tarsal segment of the legs, known techni- 

 cally as the palmse of the forelegs and as the plantae of the middle 

 and hind pair. The brush of the foreleg is elongated and of slight 

 width (fig. 1), that of the middle leg broad and flat (fig. 2), while 

 the brush upon the planta of the hind leg is the broadest of all, and 

 is also the most highly specialized. In addition to these well-marked 

 brushes, the distal ends of the tibiae of the fore and middle legs bear 

 many stiff hairs, which function as pollen collectors, and the distal 

 tarsal joints of all legs bear similar structures. 



Fig. 1. — Left foreleg of a worker bee. (Original.) 



