8 
BEHAVIOB OF HONEY BEE IN POLLEN COLLECTING. 
Trochanter- 
Tibia 
cover the surfaces of the compound eyes (Phillips, 1905). Branched 
hairs are also found upon the legs ; more particularly upon the more 
proximal segments. A typical branched hair is composed of a long- 
slender main axis from which spring numerous short lateral barbs. 
Grains of pollen are caught and held in the angles between the axis 
and the barbs and between the barbs of contiguous hairs. The hairy 
covering of the body and legs thus serves as a collecting surface upon 
which pollen grains are temporarily retained and from which they 
are later removed by the combing action of the brushes of the legs. 
Although, as above noted, some unbranched hairs are located upon 
the body of the bee, they occur in greatest numbers upon the more 
distal segments of the appendages. They are quite diverse in form, 
some being extremely long and slender, such as those which curve 
over the pollen 
jCoxa baskets , others 
being stout and 
stiff, as those 
which form the 
collecting brushes 
and the pecten 
spines. 
The mouth- 
parts of the bee 
are also essential 
to the proper col- 
lection of pollen. 
The mandibles 
are used to scrape 
over the anthers 
of flowers, and 
considerable pollen adheres to them and is later removed. The same 
is true of the maxillae and tongue. From the mouth comes the fluid 
by which the pollen grains are moistened. 
The legs of the worker bee are especially adapted for pollen gath- 
ering. Each leg bears a collecting brush, composed of stiff, un- 
branched hairs set closely together. These brushes are located upon 
the first or most proximal tarsal segment of the legs, known techni- 
cally as the palmse of the forelegs and as the plantse of the middle 
and hind pair. The brush of the foreleg is elongated and of slight 
width (fig. 1), that of the middle leg broad and flat (fig. 2), while 
the brush upon the planta of the hind leg is the broadest of all, and 
is also the most highly specialized. In addition to these well-marked 
brushes, the distal ends of the tibiae of the fore and middle legs bear 
many stiff hairs, which function as pollen collectors, and the distal 
tarsal joints of all legs bear similar structures. 
Fig. 1. — Left foreleg of a worker bee. (Original.) 
