és 
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 21 
aims of progressive bee-keepers, should be to raise bees with 
longer tongues. This can undoubtedly be done sooner or 
later, by careful selection, in the same way that all our do- 
mestic plants and animals have been improved in the past. 
For this, patience and time are required. 
50. The thorax is the intermediate part of the body. It 
is also called ‘‘corselet.’’ It is formed of three rings sol- 
dered into one. Each of the three rings bears one pair of 
legs, on its under side; and each of the last two rings bears 
a pair of wings, on its upper side; making four wings and 
six legs, all fastened on the thorax. 
51. Each legis composed of nine joints (B, Plate IV), the 
two nearest the body (c, tr) being short. The next three 
are the femur (f), tibia (ti), and planta (p) also called 
metatarsus. The last four joints form the tarsus (¢) or foot. 
52. The last joint of the tarsus, or tip of the foot, is pro- 
vided with two claws (an, fig. 12), that cling to objects or 
to the surfaces on which the bee climbs. These claws can 
be folded, somewhat like those of a cat (A, fig. 12), or can 
be turned upwards (B, fig. 12) when the bees are hanging 
in clusters. When they walk on a polished surface, like 
the pane of a window, which the claws cannot grasp, the 
latter are folded down; but there is between them a small 
rubber-like pocket, pulvillus (pv, A, B,) which secretes a 
sticky, ‘‘ clammy ”’ substance, that enables the bee to cling 
to the smoothest surfaces. House-flies and other insects 
cling to walls and windows by the same process. It was 
formerly asserted that insects cling to the smooth surfaces 
by air suction, but the above explanation is correct, and you 
can actually see ‘‘ the footprints of a fly’ on a pane of glass, 
iwith the help of a microscope, remnants of the ‘‘ clammy ’’ 
substance being quite discernible. By this ingenious ar- 
‘rangement, bees can walk indifferently upon almost any- 
thing, since wherever the claws fail, the pulvilli take their 
place. ; 
