ABSTRACT
Males of X. v. virginica choose more types of territorial sites than are known to be used by any other species of bee. Interloping males invade nest-site territories; other males without territories patrol wildlflowers and attempt mating with foraging females. The sensory neurons innervating the hairplates of the episternal cone, petiole, and mesocoxa, of the worker honey bee Apis mellifera have been stained by axonal filling with cobalt chloride. The hairplate neurons of the petiole terminate exclusively in the mesometathoracic ganglion. The distribution of the hairplate fibres is considered in relation to their possible function in graviception. The descending multisegmental interneurons of the bee brain arborise in the posterior slope neuropile of the protocerebrum. The patterns of arborisation revealed are related to the electrophysiology of individual cells and their possible inputs as shown by other histological techniques. The intracellular injection of cobalt dye has enabled the identification of descending neurons.
