GENERAL CIIAUACTERISTICS. 



25 



low nervHi-cs or ribs, and have a great power of resistance. 

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

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

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

 wings. Thus united, tlicy present to the air a stronger 

 surface and give the bees a greater power of flight. No 

 doubt, a single pair of wings of the same surface would have 

 better attained the desired aim, but their width would have 

 annoyed the bees in goino- inside of the cells, either to feed 



WINGS OF THE HONEY-BBB. 

 (Magnifled. From Cheshire.) 



A, anterior ^ng, underside; p,p, plait. 



B, posterior "Wing, under side; h,k, booklets. 



C, cross-section of \viugs through line a,/), showing hooklets in plait. 



the larvae or to deposit supplies. Imagine a blue fly trying, 

 with its wide wings, to go inside of a cell! 



61. " Mr. Gaurichon has noticed that when the bees fan, 

 or ventilate the entrance of the hive, their wings are not 

 hooked together as they are in flight, but act independent- 

 ly of one another." (Dubini, 1881.) A German entomolo- 

 gist, Landois, states that, according to the pitch of their 

 hum, the bees' flight must at times be equal to 440 vibra- 

 tions in a second, but he noticed that this speed could not 



