30 



Genus of the Honey-Bee. 



I reluctantly withhold further particulars of this wonderful 

 bee family. When first I visited ^Messrs. Townley and Davis, 

 of this State, I was struck with the fine collection of wild bees 

 which each had made. Yet, unknowingly, they had incorpo- 

 rated many that were not bees. Of course, many apiarists will 

 wish to make such collections and also to study our wild bees. 

 I hope the above will ])rovo efficient aid. I hope, too, that it 

 will stimulate others, especially youth, to the valuable and in- 

 tensely interesting study of these wonders of nature. I am 

 glad to open to the reader a page from the book of nature so 

 replete witli attractions as is the above. Nor do I think I have 

 taken too much space in revealing the strange and marvelous 

 instincts, and wonderfully varied habits, of this highest of in- 

 sect families, at the head of which stand our own fellow-labor- 

 ers and companions of the apiary. 



THE GENUS OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



The genus Apis includes all bees that have no tibial spurs 

 on the posterior legs. They have three cubital or sub-costal 

 cells (1, 2, 3, Fig. o) — the second row from the costal or an- 



FiG. 3. 



A..—Antrrii>r Wing of a Bee. i, 2, ?,.~8ub-costal or Cubiliil Cells. 



B.— Secondary or Posterior Wing; a, hooks to attack to Primary Wing. 



terior edge — on the front or primary wings. On the inner 

 side of the posterior basal tarsus, opposite the pollen baskets, 

 in the neuters or workers, are rows of hairs (Fig. 26, e) whicl'i 

 are probably used in collecting pollen. In the males, which 

 do no work except to fertilize the queens, the large compound 

 eyes meet above, crowding the three simple eyes below (Fig. 4), 

 while in the workers (Fig. .5) and queens these simple eyes' 

 called ocelli, are above, and the compound eyes wide apart.' 

 The drones and queens have weak jaws, with a rudimentary 



