The Life Processes of the Individual 133 



data necessary to elucidate the points discussed. This 

 point of view is to be preferred as being of greater interest 

 to persons who are not specialists in morphology and, after 

 all is said, our chief interest in any animal lies in the fact 

 that it lives and moves rather than that it has legs or a 

 stomach of a certain structure and form. This view is 

 emphasized by Snodgrass who also shows in numerous 

 places our woeful lack of knowledge of the details of the 

 physiology of the bee. Since anatomy is not treated fully in 

 this book, the reader may find certain points not described 

 sufficiently to meet his needs. In the illustrations used in 

 this chapter, all of which are from Snodgrass, parts are 

 sho^Ti which are not here described and symbols are used 

 which are not explained. Partially to remedy these neces- 

 sary shortcomings, the symbols used by Snodgrass are 

 given in the Appendix (pp. 439-448). For fuller descrip- 

 tions the reader is referred to his admirable bulletin. 



GENERAL PLAN OF THE BODY OF THE BEE 



The plan of organization of the bee is quite imlike that 

 of the hvunan body. The structure of the body as a whole 

 and of the various organs is different from that with which 

 we are most familiar and it is imperative that we avoid 

 forming conclusions as to the functions of various organs 

 from supposed homologies. First of all, there is no internal 

 skeleton for the attachment of muscles and to serve as a 

 support for the organs of the body, but the chitinous cover- 

 ing serves as a skeleton. The body of the bee is divided 

 into three portions, head, thorax and abdomen, the legs 

 and wings being attached to the thorax. 



The three portions of the body differ greatly in function. 

 The head is the seat of the brain and carries the two kinds 

 of ej'^es (three simple eyes and two large compound eyes), 

 and the antennae (feelers), which are covered with sense 

 organs. It also carries the complex mouth parts. The 

 thorax is chiefly concerned in locomotion, being almost 



