1902.] 211 



segments were fully exposed to view. When preparing the third or 

 fourth of these specimens I suddenly smelled strongly the very same 

 odour that 1 had noticed with the swarm. I immediately separated 

 the membrane connecting the fifth and sixth segments with as small 

 a portion of these segments as possible, and placed it on a card by 

 itself, and it continued to give; out the scent for some time, while 

 the card on which the remainder of the specimen rested soon lost the 

 scent. 



The above experiment was repeated with a similar result, but I 

 found that it was not every specimen that would produce the scent. 



The experiment is a very simple one, and it can easily be verified 

 by any one. 



The organ in question appears to have been first noticed in the 

 year 1883, when Nassanoff of Moscow described it, and an account 

 of his description was sent by Zoubareff to the Swiss Bulletin 

 cT Apiculture. 



The organ is described as a canal. " At the bottom of this canal 

 a large number of small glands open, each one of which has an oval 

 cell with a well-defined globule. From each cell a duct starts out 

 and extends to the bottom of the canal." Nassanoff further said that 

 the walls of the duct are of a chitinous texture. He assigned a 

 secretory function to the glands and suggested that they produced the 

 perspiration. Zoubareff, while not absolutely rejecting Nassanoff's 

 theory, connected the existence of the glands with the little drops of 

 liquid that bees are said to let fall when they are on the wing, which 

 he said represent the excess of moisture which nectar freshly 

 gathered from flowers contains over ripened honey, and which he 

 thought was collected, and then thrown off by these glands. I have 

 been unable to verify this statement. 



The accompanying drawing represents the extremity of the dis- 

 tended abdomen of a worker honey-bee seen from above. A is the 

 rugulose portion of the membrane connecting the fifth and the sixth 

 dorsal segments. B is Nassanoff's canal. 



EXPLANATION OF FIGURE. 



Tip of distended abdomen of worker honey-bee seen from above, enlarged. 

 4d, 5d, 6d — 4th, 5th, and 6th dorsal segments. 

 6v — 6th ventral segment. 

 A — Rugulose portion of membrane. 

 B —Nassanoff's canal. 



Ripple Court, Dover : 



June, 1902. 



