BY the aid of a wonderful instrument called the Microscope we are able to learn a good deal about the construction of the different parts of the bee’s body.
A microscope, as perhaps you already know, is a sort of strong magnifying glass, being something like a telescope, but on a smaller scale altogether. You may see an illustration of a microscope in (a) Plate VI. The tube of the microscope is generally about six or eight inches in length, made of metal and holding two sets of lenses. The one through which we look is at the top of the tube, and is called the eyepiece. The lens at the bottom is called the objective, for it is the lens that is nearest to the object that is to be examined. If you have a microscope of your own, or know any one who has one, you will be able to see for yourselves many of the things about which I am going to tell you. For the sake of convenience the parts of insects to be examined in the microscope are generally mounted on little slips of glass, and if you place a dead bee on a piece of glass, you will find that it is more easily handled in this manner. Some of you, however, may not have this opportunity, and so I have photographed several different parts of the bee, by the aid of the microscope, so that you will be able to understand what you will read about them.
PLATE VI
(a)
From a photograph by] [E. Hawks
A Microscope
(b)
From a photo-micrograph by] [E. Hawks
Head of Bee
Just as the telescope has taught its users a great deal about the stars, which otherwise could not have been known, so too has the microscope shown us wonders such as we never before thought existed.
Before we consider the habits of the bees, it will be well for us to examine, and to understand, the various limbs and parts of their bodies, in order that we may the more easily trace out the manner in which the little workers accomplish their tasks.