. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. ANTIIOI'IIILA BEES I I or sub-divisions. The bees are, as a rule, distinguished from other Hynienoptera by the hairs, by the great devehjpnient of the mouth parts to form a proboscis (usually, l)ut not correctly, called tongue), and by the modification of the hind-legs; Init these distinctive characters are in some of the species exhibited in so minor a degree of perfection that it is not easy to recognise these primitive forms as Antliophila. A few general remarks on the three points mentioned will enable the student to better appreciate the importanc
. The Cambridge natural history. Zoology. ANTIIOI'IIILA BEES I I or sub-divisions. The bees are, as a rule, distinguished from other Hynienoptera by the hairs, by the great devehjpnient of the mouth parts to form a proboscis (usually, l)ut not correctly, called tongue), and by the modification of the hind-legs; Init these distinctive characters are in some of the species exhibited in so minor a degree of perfection that it is not easy to recognise these primitive forms as Antliophila. A few general remarks on the three points mentioned will enable the student to better appreciate the importance of certain points we shall subsequently deal witli. The bees are, as a rule, much more covered with hair than any other of the Hynienoptera. Saunders ^ states that he has examined the structure of the hairs in all the genera of British Aculeata, and that in none Itut the Anthophila do branched and plumose hairs occur. The func- tion of this kind of hairs is unknown: Saunders suggests^ that they may be instrumental in the gathering of pollen, but they occur in the parasitic bees as well as in the males, neither of which gather pollen. The variety of tlie positions they occupy on the body seems to offer but little support to the all the* hairs of the are plumose, some are simple, as shown in Fig. 5, A, and this is specially the case with the hairs that are placed at the edges of the dilated plates for carrying pollen. In some forms there is hail's all over the body, and the " feathers" are distributed between these; and we do not see any reason for assuming that the feathered are superior to the simple hairs for gathering and carrying pollen. Some bees, Prosopis, Ccratina, have very little hair on the body, but nevertheless some plumose hairs are always present even though they be very short. 1 Trans, cnt. Soc. 1878, \>. 169. Not bee's body i \ y. Fig. —Hairs of Bees : A, simple hair from abdomen of Osmia; B, spiral hair from abdomen oi Megachile; C, plum
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