060 
POLLEN 
^--Femur^ 
Corfrtci//a 
-Femur 
Tibia- 
Anterior 
edge 
Posterior 
edge- 
Pecten 
Auricfo 
Plarda 
Fig. 3.—Outer surface 
of the left hind leg of a 
worker bee. — Bulletin No. 
121, Bureau of Entomol¬ 
ogy. 
Fig. 4.—Inner surface 
of the left hind leg of a 
worker bee.—Bulletin No. 
121, Bureau of Entomol¬ 
ogy. 
The feather-like structure of the hairs en¬ 
ables them better to retain the pollen which 
falls upon them. The mouth parts are 
especially serviceable in the case of small 
flowers, or of those which produce little 
pollen. The mandibles are actively used in 
biting 1 and scraping the anthers and free¬ 
ing the pollen, which is brushed up by the 
maxillae and slender tongue. All the pol¬ 
len gathered by the mouth parts is very 
thoroly moistened with nectar or honey 
which comes from the mouth. It is, in¬ 
deed, so wet that in its transfer to the 
pollen-baskets the hair on the breast and 
the brushes of the legs becomes so damp 
that it easily moistens the dry pollen swept 
from the bee’s body. 
The leg of a bee is composed of nine 
segments: The coxa, by which it is at¬ 
tached to the body; the trochanter, femur 
or thigh, tibia, or shin, and the five tarsi. 
The first tarsal segment, or metatarsus, is 
as long as the four tarsal segments to¬ 
gether. This segment of the fore-legs is 
called the palm,a (palm), and of the middle 
and hind legs the planta (sole). The inner 
side of the metatarsal segments of all three 
pairs of legs bears a dense brush of un- 
