THE THORAX
Having now fully considered the head of the bee, we will turn our
attention to the _thorax_; this name comes from a Latin word meaning
the chest. It is the second, or middle division, of the bee’s body, and
to it the head is joined by a thin neck. The _thorax_ is the centre of
movement, for it is to this part that the wing and legs are joined.
Accordingly we find that it contains several large muscles, for the bee
is a very powerful flier.
If we examine a bee we notice that the head seems almost black, the
abdomen smooth and shiny, and that the thorax has a beautiful downy
appearance. This is due to its being thickly covered with fine hairs
which, when examined with the microscope, are seen to have many tiny
spikes branching from them which are used for collecting the pollen
grains. When a bee enters a flower the hairs are sure to come into
contact with the pollen, and by means of the spikes the grains are
entangled and held secure. The hairs of the queen and the drone are not
so numerous as those of the worker, because these bees do not gather
pollen.
If we wish to see exactly the construction of the thorax we shall
have to remove these downy hairs, for they are so thick that it is
impossible to see beneath them. How are we to remove them, without
injuring the parts which lie below? An ingenious way of doing this is
to fasten a piece of cotton around the body of the dead bee, and to
hang it downwards in the hive, between the combs. In the course of a
few days we shall find that every hair has vanished and that the body
is beautifully polished. This has been done by the thousands of worker
bees, walking over the combs of the hive. They are so busy that they
have no time to stop and inquire how their sister died; and so they
brush past, intent only on the fulfilment of some particular duty. In
their haste they knock against the body of the bee, which is buffeted
this way and that, as the busy streams of bees cross and recross the
combs. After a few days of this treatment all the hairs will have
been removed from it, and we shall then be able to see the actual
construction of the thorax, and also the manner in which wings and legs
are attached.
The thorax, we find, is divided into three distinct parts. The division
nearest the head is called the pro-thorax or forward division; the
second is the meso-thorax or middle division; and the third the
meta-thorax or after division.