The Honey Bee and the Fly 



355 



food, nourishment and care, become a queen in case the old queen dies. 

 The workers are smaller than either queen or drones. They are the ones 

 usually seen hovering about flowers. 



Bees have mouth parts (Fig. 231), modified both for biting and 

 sucking, and two pairs of membranous wings. 



Fig. 231. 



A. Front view of the head and mouth 

 parts of a bee. a, Antenna; m, mandible; 

 g, labrum and epipharynx; mx.p., rudiment 

 of maxillary palp; mx., lamina of maxilla; 

 lp., labial palp; /., ligula; b., bouton at end. 

 The paraglossae lie concealed between the 

 basal portions of the labial palps and the 

 ligula. (After Cheshire.) 



B. Side view of mouth parts of the honey 

 bee, Apis Mellifera. a, base of antenna; br, 

 brain; c, clypeus; h, hypopharynx; /, labrum; 

 lp, labial palpus; m, mentum; mo, mouth; 

 mx, maxilla; sm, submentum. (After Chesh- 

 ire.) 



C. Tongue of honey 

 bee. p., protecting bris- 

 tles; s., terminal spoon; 

 t., taste setae. (After 

 Will.) 



EXTERNAL APPEARANCE 



The body is divided into head, thorax, and abdomen. (Fig. 213.) 

 The body is covered with a skin or cuticle which is composed of a thin 

 chitinous layer produced by the secretion from the cells lying beneath 

 it. This serves as a protection, but it is cast off at various intervals 

 during the early stages of growth. 



There are a pair of large compound eyes and three ocelli or simple 

 eyes. The arrangement of the ocelli are somewhat different in queen, 

 worker, and drone. Two feelers (antennae) project from the front of 

 the head. 



The mouth is made up of an upper lip or labrum, an epipharynx, a 

 pair of mandibles, two maxillae, and a labium. This last mentioned is 

 the under lip. 



The labrum is joined to the clypeus (the dome-shaped portion of 



