On the Tongue [Lingua) of some Hymenoptera. 43 



and lastly, Rev. INIr. Wood, in " Homes without Hands," states that the 

 hone}' or sucking stomach " seems to discharge no other office tlian that 

 of a vessel in which the juice can be kept while the bee is at work;" 

 that " it is composed of an exceedingly delicate membrane, that seems 

 incapable of exerting any influence on the substance contained in it;'' 

 notwithstanding which the nectar is, "during the short sojourn," while 

 the bee flies home, "converted into honey, a substance quite unlike 

 that from which it is formed ;" an office very diff"erent from that suggested 

 by Burmiester, as before stated; while Ileaumer had long before sug- 

 gested a similar office for — not tlie sucking stomach, which lies in the 

 abdomen, but for what he calls the " membraneous sack," which lies in 

 the tongue itself. Mr. Wood further states that the bee first laps up 

 the nectar with the tongue, from which it then scrapes it off with its 

 mandibles. Prof. Huxley (anatomy of invertebrates) calls the bee's 

 mouth, "partly mastacatory, partl}^ suctorial, or rather lapping." 



These are the principal authorities to which I have now the means of 

 reference. The recent publications of Brants, Menier and others I have 

 not seen. Reaumer, Savignj', Newport, Kirby and Spence, and Carpen- 

 ter, etc. ! — one is almost compelled by such an arraj- of authority to dis- 

 believe his own eyes. Yet surely there is enough discrepancy in the ac- 

 counts above mentioned, to authorize one to trust his own careful inves- 

 tigations, and to suspect that perhaps thei'c has been already something 

 too much of trusting to authority-, and of rei)etition of unverified ob- 

 servations. And before proceeding to detail my own observations, ] 

 desire to call attention to what appears to me to be unreasonable and 

 inconsistent in the observations of these authorities. I have given 

 their views condensed, and in' my own language generally, because the 

 quotations would have required more space than I have to spare. 



All recent authorities agree that, under the labrum, is what Savigny 

 calls the epiphar\'nx; and under that, what he calls the hypophaiynx; 

 and that under this, and closed by it, is the '' os" or opening into the 

 oesophagus, the trne pharynx. The correctness of this statement is 

 easil}^ demonstrated by the dissection of a bee. These organs are 

 very delicate and pretty, especially in the hive bee, and their form 

 varies, if not with the species, at least often with the genus and famil}-. 

 It will be admitted by all, that in so far as the bee's food consists of 

 solid or semi-solid matter, as pollen, or bee bread, it must, at least 

 usually,, be triturated by the mandibles, which close immediately 

 before the pharynx, and must enter the oesophagus by it. Has a bee 

 more thau one opening into the oesophagus? It appears to be both a 

 mandibulate and a suctorial insect. Is it really so? The majority' of 

 authors above referred to, deny that it is suctorial, alleging that all 

 food enters by the opening under tne labrum. Burmiester and some 

 others admitting the existence of the structure under the labrum 



