:-.25 



legsy In Megachile, where it is collected on the ventral sur- 

 face, "the abdomen is furnished with long, stiff retroverted 

 hairs, by means of which the pollen is brushed from the 

 anthers as the inject passes in or out of tiie flower." The 

 pollen srains are afterwards dislodged by means of its legs. 

 These insects can therefore readily get the pollen from 

 flowers with flat corollas. In Anihophora the pollen is col- 

 lected by the tibia and tarsus. They are broad and flat and 

 thickly covered with hairs. The pollen is brushed from the 

 anther by means of the hairs on the tarsus, and later is trans- 

 ferred to the tibia. In Bombus t'errestris the tibia is smooth 

 on the outer surface; the inner is covered with long, stiff 

 hairs, which with the tibia, form a little depression; into this 

 the pollen is brushed by the short hairs of the tarsus. In the 

 honey bee the arrangements are similar, except more perfect 



FIG. 12. 



for collecting pollen from the anthers. There are eight or 

 nine rows of hairs. The pollen from the anthers is trans- 

 ferred to the surface of the tibia or hairs, to which it readily 

 adheres. Behrens says: "After the process of collecting 

 has been carried on for some time, the pollen forms in thick 

 yellow masses, which completely envelop the legs. Laden 

 with the fruits of its toil, the insect wings its way home- 

 ward and deposits them in the bee-hive." 



