BEE MANUAL. 45 



they differ only in size, colour, and perhaps in the greater or 

 less development of some organs ; but none of them present 

 any marked distinction in structure or in habits ; they therefore 

 admit of cross-breeding, producing fertile crosses or hybrids 

 which may be continued as a new variety, or re-crossed with 

 other varieties. This would not be the case if they belonged 

 to different species. They belong further to the genus Apis, 

 the family Apidce, the order Hymenoptera, sub-class Hempoda, 

 and class Insecta. 



GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STRUCTURE. 



As characteristic of their class and sub-class, the body of 

 these insects is divided into three parts — the head, the thorax, 

 and the abdomen, which are connected by small and hollow 

 ligaments; they have six legs, attached to the thorax, and 

 they breathe air through a system of tubes to be described 

 further on. As belonging to the order Hymenoptera, they have 

 four membranous wings attached to the thorax, of which 

 the two foremost cover the hinder ones when at rest ; also a 

 proboscis or tongue by which they can suck or lap, and strong 

 jaws for biting. The family Apidce, according to Professor 

 Cook, 



" Includes not only the hive-bee but all insects which feed their 

 helpless young or larvae entirely on polleD, or honey and pollen. . . 

 The larvffi of all insects of this family are maggot-like — wrinkled, foot- 

 less, tapering at both ends. . . . They are helpless, and thus, 

 all during their babyhood— the larvse state — the time when all insects 

 are most ravenous, and the only time when many insects take food, 

 the time when all growth in size, except such enlargement as is 

 required by egg-development occurs, these infant bees have to be fed 

 by their mothers or elder sisters. They have a mouth with soft lips 

 and weak jaws, yet it is doubtful if all or much of their food is taken 

 in at that opening. There is some reason to believe that they, like 

 many maggots, such as the Hessian fly larvee, absorb much of their 

 food through the body walls. From the mouth leads the intestine, 

 which has no anal opening, so there are no excreta other than gas and 

 vapour. AVhat commendation for their food, all capable of nourish- 

 ment, and thus all assimilated ! " 



The genus Apis, to which the species A. mellifica belongs, is 

 characterised chiefly by slight peculiarities in the legs and 

 wings. All bees of this genus have no tibial spurs (stiff spines 



