Cut off a piece of one of the compound eyes, remove some of the black pigment on the back and examine the piece in a drop of water. Each facet is a tiny hexagon. Some care is necessary to see them well.
Remove an antenna and examine it with three fourths inch power. It is thickly covered with minute hairs which give it a velvety appearance. Count the joints. At the base is the longest joint; at the lower end of which is a little knob that fits into a socket in the head. The next joint is quite small while those beyond are much alike.
Scrape the hairs from the face and examine the horny shell with three fourths inch power. The surface is full of little pits. In the upper part of the face there is a groove, in the middle of which is one of the simple eyes. Just below the antennæ sockets is a groove which extends crosswise a short distance on either side and then bends downwards to the mouth. The portion of the face bounded by this groove is called the clypeus. At its lower part is hinged a little oblong piece (labium) which may be moved up and down with a needle.
Melt a piece of sealing wax on the centre of a slip of glass (taking care not to break the glass by too sudden heating) and before the wax hardens press the head into it face downwards.
Examine with one inch power. The hole near the top of the head shows the position of the neck. The portion of the head around this hole is destitute of hairs and is hollowed in, to make room for the rounded front part of the thorax. Below this one there is another cavity which contains a portion of the mouth parts when they are retracted. At each side of the mouth in front of the base of the sucking organs, are the two jaws (mandibles) each with a little tuft of hair on the outer side. The jaws move freely to and from each other, sideways instead of up and down as do the jaws of the higher animals. The sucking apparatus consists of five pieces viz: two outermost pieces each tapering to a fine point, two, each of which ends in three little joints and one in the centre which projects beyond the others. It may be necessary to spread these out with the needle, to see them well.
Separate the thorax from the rest of the body. Scrape off the hairs on the back. Two principal grooves extend across the back, one near the front and one near the hind margin. The thorax is composed of three divisions and these grooves show where they are joined together. The hind division bears the hind wings and the hind pair of legs; the middle division, much the largest division of the three, bears the fore wings and the middle pair of legs; and the foremost division is quite small and bears only the front pair of legs.
Remove the wings of one side and examine in a drop of water with one and one half inch power. The wings consist of a shining transparent membrane strengthened by numerous horny veins running through it. Examine with one half inch power. The membrane is seen to be covered with minute hairs and little dots. On the front edge of the hind wing a short distance from the outer end is a row of hooks. At a corresponding place on the hind edge of the fore wing there is a thickening or ridge. When flying, the hooks catch onto the ridge and thus the wings are held together and act as one large wing.
Examine this grappling apparatus with one fourth inch power and with the needles hook the wings together and pull them apart. If you look through the magnifier while you do this you will get a good idea of the form of the ridge and of how the hooks catch onto it. Remove one of the forelegs, being sure that none remains attached to the body. Examine with one and one half inch power. The extremity is armed with two claws; then come four short joints followed by one about as long as the others together. All these make up the foot. The next joint above is the shank, then comes the thigh and then quite a small joint, the lower hip, and lastly attached to the body is the upper hip.
Remove the last five joints of the foot (the claw part, and the other four joints) examine with one third inch power. The claws have each a branch projecting from the inner edge. Between the claws is a little velvety pad. Each of the small joints is covered with short closely appressed hairs and from the lower end of each joint project several spines. Now examine the remaining long joint of the foot attached to the shank. At the upper end of the inner side is a deep semicircular notch, the upper portion of which is light colored. Beside the notch is a peculiarly shaped movable spine which projects from the lower end of the shank. This queer arrangement is what the bee uses to clean his feelers. The reader has probably seen the operation performed by a bee or a wasp. The leg is thrown over the feeler, the latter is grasped at that particular bend of the leg where the cleansing apparatus is situated and then drawn through from base to tip; and this is repeated several times with each feeler.
Examine with one and one half inch power a leg from each of the other pairs and compare the corresponding parts. They differ chiefly in size and in the absence of the cleansing apparatus. You cannot fail to admire the many beautiful forms of the different portions. On the outer side of the hind shank is a smooth flattish surface destitute of hairs, excepting a fringe of long ones at the margin. At this place may sometimes be found a sticky mass of pollen intended for bee-bread. Examine the abdomen with one and one half inch power. It is composed of several wings. If some of the hairs are scraped off this will be shown more clearly. From the hind extremity projects the sting.