GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 25 



across the joint, a little projecting above its plane, and the 

 tips of one comb slightly overlapping the basis of the next. 

 Their colour is reddish-brown; and entangled in the combs, we 

 almost invariably discover pollen granules, which have been 

 at first picked up by the thoracic hairs, but combed out by the 

 constant play of the legs over the breast — -in which work, the 

 second pair, bearing a strong resemblance to the third, per- 

 forms an important part. ' ' 



59. "So soon as the bees have loaded these combs, they 

 do not return to the hive, but transfer the pollen to the hollow 

 sides of the tibia, seen at ti, A. This concavity, corbicula, or 

 pollen basket, is smooth and hairless, except at the edges, 

 whence spring long, slender, curved spines, two sets following 

 the line of the bottom and sides of the basket, while a third 

 bends over its front. The concavity fits it to contain pollen, 

 while the marginal hairs greatly increase its possible load, like 

 the sloping stakes which the farmer places round the sides of 

 his waggon when he desires to carry loose hay, the set bent 

 over (see G, Plate 8) accomplishing the purpose of the cords 

 by which he saves his property from being lost on the road. 

 But a diflSculty arises: How can the pollen be transferred from 

 the metatarsal comb to the basket above? Easily; .for it is the 

 left metatarsus that charges the right basket, and vice versa. 

 The legs are crossed, and the metatarsus naturally scrapes its 

 comb-face on the upper edge of the opposite tibia, in the direc- 

 tion from the base of the combs towards their tips. These 

 upper hairs standing over wp, B, or close to ti, A (which are 

 opposite sides of the same joint), are nearly straight, and pass 

 between the comb teeth. The pollen, as removed, is caught by 

 the bent-over hairs, and secured. Each scrap adds to the mass, 

 until the face of the joint is more than covered, and the hairs 

 just embrace the pellet as we see it in the cross-section at G. 

 The worker now hies homewards, and the spine, as a crow-bar, 

 does its work." — (Cheshire.) 



60. The four wings, in two pairs, are supported by hol- 

 low nervures or ribs, and have a great power of resistance. 

 In flight, the small wings are fastened to the large ones by 

 small hooks (fig. 14), located on the edge of their outer 

 nervure, that catch in a fold of the inner edge of the large 



