128 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



for cleaning the semicircle of teeth presently to he 

 noticed. At the front of the metatarsus stands a set 

 of long, erect spines, which are always possessed by 

 those bees that have hairs between the facets of the 

 compound eyes. The spines (eb) are, really, eye- 

 brushes, or, perhaps, I should have called them 

 combs, since their office is to clear out from the 

 eye hairs all pollen grains or foreign bodies, which 

 would, of course, impede vision. But a most sur- 

 passingly beautiful device of the first leg remains 

 to be noticed. It consists of two parts — a deep, 

 curved recess in the back of the metatarsus, and a 

 spine and sail, or velum (v, C, Plate V.), attached 

 at the termination of the tibia. Professor Cook's 

 reference to this marvellous mechanism is so inaccu- 

 rate in every particular that he is best refuted by 

 quotation. He says : " On the anterior legs of the 

 workers, between the femur and tibia, is a curious 

 notch, covered by a spur. For several years, this has 

 caused speculation among my students, and has 

 attracted the attention of observing apiarists. Some 

 have supposed that it aided bees in reaching deeper 

 down into tubular flowers ; others, that it was used 

 in scraping off pollen ; and still others, that it 

 enabled bees to hold on when clustering. The first 

 two suggestions may be correct, though other honey 

 and pollen-gathering bees do not possess it." (The 

 italics are mine.) I must remark here, first, that 

 this appliance is not more possessed by workers 

 than by queens and drones ; second, it is not between 

 femur and tibia, but where I place it ; and, third, 

 it is possessed by every bee in this wide creation, 



