In reviewing these various products gathered or elaborated by bees, we cannot fail to be struck with the marvellous adaptation of different materials to the wants of the community, the skill displayed in the application of them to the general purposes of the commonwealth; and, above all, the wondrous suitability of means to ends, shown by the workers of the hive. If we refuse to allow the possession of reason to these extraordinary insects, we must admit the existence in them of some faculty almost more to be admired; and, in any case, we can but bow in reverence before the all-comprehensive Divine wisdom and goodness, which have endowed creatures so small with powers so surprising which have made them subservient to human needs or comfort, and which have enabled the bees to work even to better advantage under the tutelage of man, than when left to their natural habits and surroundings.
CHAPTER XI.
PHYSIOLOGY OF THE BEE.
Nervous System—The Head—Eyes—Compound and Simple—Uses and Powers—Sir John Lubbock's Experiments—The Antennæ—Structure and Uses—Mouth—Detailed Description.
Before proceeding to detail the most important facts connected with the internal economy of the hive, it will be desirable to describe with some minuteness the physiology and anatomy of the inhabitants, so that it may be more easy to understand the means by which various processes are accomplished, and the most important events of the community are brought about. Much that has been hitherto said will become more readily comprehended by attention to the structure of the various organs we are now about to describe.
It will hardly be necessary to enter into a more minute account, than we have already given, of the egg, the larva, and the pupa. We shall, therefore, confine ourselves to detailing the most interesting points in the physiology of the perfect insect.
It has been noted, in an earlier chapter, that the members of this division of the animal kingdom are characterised by having three very distinct segments in their bodies the head, the thorax, and the abdomen. As the nature and arrangement of the nervous system forms one of the soundest bases of classification in the highest of the three kingdoms in nature, we shall first direct attention, in each case, to this all-important matter of detail.
Fig. 22.—Nervous System of Privet Hawk-moth.
Fig. 23.—Nervous System of Larva of Bee.