With the mandibles of the upper jaw opening right and left, and the maxillæ or lower jaws, which serve to hold the object laboured upon, the insect prepares its work for the sweeping-up apparatus of the lower parts. Thus, when combs become mouldy, or in any way unfit receptacles for brood or honey, these tools provided by Nature serve the place of hands, and the bees are able to chop up in small pieces, and remove from their dwelling, whatever lumber of this kind may be offensive to them. The whole of this apparatus, while perfect in action in an expanded state, can be folded or coiled together when not in use, so as to form one strong and well-protected instrument.
The antennæ ([Plate I., figs. 1a, 2a, 3a],) are most important instruments, and are planted between or below the eyes and a little below the ocelli, one on either side: they consist of a number of tubular joints, each having a separate motion; being thus jointed throughout their whole length, they are, therefore, capable of every variety of flexure, and their extremities are exquisitely sensitive. With the antennæ, these insects recognise their queen, and appear to communicate to each other their joys and sorrows. For instance, if a colony be deprived of its queen, bees may be seen rushing about the hive, and, with a nervous twinge, crossing their antennæ and conveying the intelligence of their forlorn state. The sense of touch is here most acute. Huber points out a moonlight night as the best time for observing the antennæ in this respect. The bees guarding against the intrusion of moths, and not having light enough to see fully, circumambulate their doors like vigilant sentinels, with the antennæ stretched right before them; and woe to the moth that comes within reach—the instant it is felt, its death follows. The sense of hearing has been denied bees, whilst others contend that these organs are situate in their antennæ. The sounds which bees emit, particularly at swarming time, are conclusive that they possess this faculty; the only reason for arriving at an opposite conclusion seems to be, that no precise organ of hearing can be found. Naturalists are now more united in the opinion that the seat of hearing is here located. The antennæ are said to have also another office, viz., that they act as a barometer, by which bees know the state of the weather and are premonished of storms; so that this pair of horns play an important part, since such useful faculties are thus combined. In the dark recesses of the hive the antennas are exceedingly serviceable, and may truly be denominated "eyes to the blind." Bees possess acutely the senses of taste and smell. In consequence of their being detected occasionally lapping the impure liquids from stable or other fœtid drains, Huber considered the former the least perfect of their senses. It is now ascertained that bees, like most animals, are fond of salt; and in spring, more especially, their instinct teaches them that salt is beneficial for their health after their winter confinement, and they therefore resort to dunghills and Stagnant marshes, from which they are, doubtless, able to extract saline draughts.
It cannot be denied, however, that, according to our ideas, bees' taste is otherwise at fault; it sometimes happens that, where onions and leeks abound and are allowed to run to seed, bees are so anxious to complete their winter stores, that, from feeding on these plants, a disagreeable flavour is communicated to the honey. Again, the fact, well known in history, related by Xenophon in the retreat of the Ten Thousand, that bees in Asia Minor extracted honey from plants which had not only a disagreeable but a poisonous tendency to man, shows that it is quite possible, where such poisonous plants abound, for the bees to extract the juices without any injury to themselves.
The sense of smell, so largely possessed by bees, is extremely serviceable to them. Attracted by the fragrance of flowers, bees may be seen winging their way a considerable distance in an undeviating course, even sometimes in the face of weather which one might have thought they would not have braved.
The thorax or chest approaches in figure to a sphere, and is united to the head by a thread-like ligament. This is the centre of the organs of motion. Here are attached both the muscles that move the legs and wings, and the legs and wings themselves.
In [Plate II., fig. 1], b, b, b, show the muscles that move the wings; e, e, the bases of the wings.
The wings consist of two pairs of unequal size, which are hooked to one another. In [Plate I., fig. A], will be seen the margins of the two wings. In fig. B are the eighteen or twenty hooks placed on the anterior margin of the hinder wing, whilst the posterior margin of the fore wing is beautifully folded over to receive them, so that, when distended for flying, the two wings on each side act as one to steady their movements in flight.
The bee has six legs, three on either side. Each leg is composed of several joints, having articulations like a man's arm, for the thigh, the leg, and the foot. The foremost pair of these are the shortest; with them the bee unloads the little pellets from the baskets on her thighs: the middle pair are somewhat longer, and the hindmost the longest of all. On the outside of the middle joint of these last there is, in each leg, a small cavity, in the form of a marrow spoon, called the "pollen basket." In [Plate I., fig. 2 b] shows the inner side of the hind leg and pollen brush; 2 b*, same figure, the outer side and pollen basket.
The legs are covered with hairs, more particularly the edges of the cavity mentioned, in which the kneaded pollen requires to be maintained securely. In this they convey those loads of pollen which are so constantly seen carried into a hive.
This basket, or pollen groove, in the thigh is peculiar to the worker; neither queen nor drone have anything of the kind.