ANATOMF OF THE BEE. 41 



like a man's arm, for the thigh, the leg, and the foot. 

 The foremost pair of ti\ese are the shortest ; with them 

 the bee unloads the little pellets from the baskets on her 

 thighs : the middle pair are somewhat longer, and the 

 hindmost the longest of all. On the outside of the 

 middle joint of these last there is, in each leg, a small 

 cavity, in the form of a marrow spoon, called the- 

 " pollen basket." In Plate I., fig. 2 b shows the inner 

 side of the hind leg and pollen brush ; 2 b*, same figure, 

 the outer side and pollen basket. 



The legs are covered with . hairs, more particularly 

 the edges of the cavity mentioned, in which the kneaded 

 pollen requires to be maintained securely. In this they 

 convey those loads of pollen which are so constantly- 

 seen carried into a hive. 



This basket, or pollen groove, in the thigh is peculiar 

 to the worker ; neither queen nor drone have anything 

 of the kind. 



Another provision of the bee's limbs consists in a- 

 pair of hooks attached to each foot, with their points 

 opposite to each other, by means of which the bees 

 suspend themselves from the roof or sides of hives, and 

 cling to each other as they do at swarming time or 

 prior to and during the formation of new comb, thus 

 forming a living curtain. In these circumstances, each 

 bee, with its two fore claws, takes hold of the two 

 hinder legs of the one next above it. 



This mode of suspension is, no doubt, agreeable tO' 



