Insects / by David Sharp.

  • Sharp, David, 1840-1922.
Date:
1895-1899
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Insects / by David Sharp. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    26/646
    CHAP. The hind-legs of bees ai’e very largely used in the industrial occupations of these indefatigable creatures; one of their chief functions in the female being to act as receptacles for carrying pollen to the nest: they exhibit, however, considerable diversity. The parts most modified are the tibia and the first joint of the hind-foot. Pollen is carried by other parts of the body in many bees, and even the hind-leg itself is used in different ways for the coxa and of femur) with plumose p , n j i r ■ Imirs aiitl grnius of pollen ; C, one tllOSG of tnG IGUlcllG, find. tllGll' llinc- Tlie parasitic bees also do not carry pollen, and exhibit another series of structures. The most interesting case in this series of modifications is that found in the genus where the hind-leg of male, female, and worker are all differeirt (big- 25); the limb in the worker being highly modified for industrial purposes. This case lurs been frequently referred to, in consequence of the difficulty that exists in conirection with its heredity, for the ’ The mode of wetting the pollen is not clear. Nr olfF says it is done by an exu- dation from the tibia ; H. Idllller by admi.xture of nectar from the bee’s mouth.. Tlie latter view is mpre probably correct. . purpose: sometimes the outer face , of the tibia is highly polished and . its margins simrounded by hair, in which case pollen plates are said to ^ exist (Fig. 6, A); sometimes the first Nlr^ joint of the tarsus is analogous to w \T/ tibia both in structure and ^ N Miy function; in other cases the hind- legs are thick and densely covered V \ 7 ■ with hair tliat retains the pollen ^ between the separate hairs. In this case the pollen is carried home in a (if' state, while, in the species with \\l/\ pollen plates, the pollen is made \l/Q into a mass of a clay-like consist- ence'.^ The legs also assist in arrang- ing the pollen on the other parts of ' the body. The males do not cany hair bearing pollen-grains. probability Sexual.