. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. BEES AND FLOWERS. 477 of (he liind legs, are grouped to form a iiuirveloiis little brush. Little balls of ])ollen gathered together by this covering are received in a little basket-like depression on-tlie outside face of these legs, where they aceunudate and are held by a fringe of curved hairs until the Avorknian, finding his ruffles growing too heavy, goes l)acL to the hi\e to get rid of his burden. Vov the collection of nectar the adapti
. Annual report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution. Smithsonian Institution; Smithsonian Institution. Archives; Discoveries in science. BEES AND FLOWERS. 477 of (he liind legs, are grouped to form a iiuirveloiis little brush. Little balls of ])ollen gathered together by this covering are received in a little basket-like depression on-tlie outside face of these legs, where they aceunudate and are held by a fringe of curved hairs until the Avorknian, finding his ruffles growing too heavy, goes l)acL to the hi\e to get rid of his burden. Vov the collection of nectar the adaptive modifications are even more perfect and more comjilicated. With the exception of the mandibles, all the buccal appendages are elongated and group(Hl so as to form a proboscis, which at rest is folded twice upon itself, and in action is half as long as the body. Hollowed out on the inner surface and stretched out to their fullest extent the jaw-boxes and the labial feelers are joined to form the sides of this organ; (fig. (3, nos. 3 and 4) in the axis is the tongue, sharp and rough, which is tipped with another tongue in ^ Fig. 6.—Buccal apparatuw nf liecs. (According to H. Miiller.) 1. Bee with short tongue, carried on a long chin i Ihtliftnx quadririnrtnr). 3. Head and proboscis of Boiiibiis hortorum. ?>. Jaws and lower lip of the common bee {Apis iiiellijica). 4. Cross sec- tion of the proboscis of the Aju'n meUifiva. This tip is creased into a narrow gutter on its ventral surface and is entirely covered with little absorbent hairs. Xo more suitable instrument could l)e devised for the collection of the licpiid sugar in the nectaries, for these organs are usually deeply buried in the corolla, sometimes forming a circle at the base of the pistil, as in the Crucifer (fig. 8, no. 2), sometimes relegated to the lower iMid of the floral spur as in the orchid. (Fig. 4.) Thanks to the absorb- ent hairs on the little tongue, the nectar is drawn in through the capi
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Keywords: ., bookauthorsmithsonianinstitutio, bookcentury1800, bookdecade1840
