AA^ ECONOMIC ENTOMOLOGY. 



the abdomen contains the pollen-gathering structure, — that is to 

 say, the segments of the abdomen are furnished with brushes of 

 long, twisted or knobbed hair, and all the pollen gathered by the 



Fig. 468. 



Modifications of the hind legs of different bees.— ^, Apis: a, wax cutter and outer 

 view of leg; b, inner aspect of wax cutter and leg; c, compound hairs; d, anterior leg, 

 showing antennal scraper. B, Melipojia : f, peculiar group of spines at apex of tibia ; 

 g, inner aspect of wax cutters and first joint of tarsus. C, Bombus : h, wax cutter ; 7, 

 inner view of same and first joint of tarsus ; all enlarged. 



Fig. 469. 



insect is stored among it, ready for transportation to the nest. 

 Pollen, however, forms only one portion of the food of the larva, 

 and it must be mixed with honey to form ' ' bee bread' ' of a proper 



composition. This honey is also 

 gathered from flowers, and the 

 mouth parts are modified to this 

 especial end. 



We have two series of bees dis- 

 tinguished by the character of the 

 mouth parts, — the short-tongued 

 and the long-tongued, — both of 

 which may be either solitary or 

 social. The short-tongued bees 

 have the lower lip modified into a bladder-like structure, more 

 or less pointed at the tip, and set with regular rows of short hair 

 or flattened processes, an ideal tongue for gathering up the liquid 

 nectar and bringing it into the mouth. Many of these bees are 

 diggers, and build their nests in the ground, usually forming a 

 single vertical burrow from which lateral branches diverge into 



Abdomen of Megachile fitted for 

 gathering pollen. 



