loo ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. [Ch. ii. 



exhausted and filled with air. Flies have the same 

 beautiful apparatus — hence a fly commonly selects the 

 ceiling for a resting-place. These little air-cups, or 

 exhausted receivers, may be seen by applying a strong 

 magnifying-glass to a window that has a bee traversing 

 the reverse side. The edges of these little suckers are 

 serrated, so as to close against any kind of surface to 

 which their legs may be applied. This apparatus may 

 be also serviceable for gathering the pollen before trans- 

 mitting it to the baskets on the hind legs. Besides these 

 appendages and apparatus of the thorax, that region is 

 traversed by the cesophagus or gullet (the opening to 

 which will be found in Plate I. Fig. 2 c), on its way to 

 the digestive and other organs, situate in the third part 

 of the insect — viz., the abdomen. The covering of the 

 thorax, with the external covering of the gullet, may be 

 seen in the drawing of the magnified dissected body of 

 the bee (Plate II. Fig. 1). 



The breathing apparatus of bees is a very remarkable 

 feature : they have no lungs, but, instead, air-vessels, or 

 tubes and bladders ramifying through every part of the 

 frame. The external openings of these, which are called 

 "spiracles,'' are found in the sides of their bodies be- 

 hind the wings. Two pairs of them are located in the 

 thorax, and one pair on each side of the scales of the 

 abdomen. They would be difficult] to show in a draw- 

 ing, as the multitude of hairs which protect them are in 

 the way of getting at a very distinct delineation. The 



