172 



INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



of successive ring's. If we hold a bee between the 

 lingers, we can easily perceive a kind of brown, 

 shining instrument, curved like a surgeon's needle, 

 folded closely down from the mouth towards the 

 throat, where it terminates in a point. At the plea- 

 sure of the bee this instrument can be projected 

 forward either in a curved or straight form, so as 

 to resemble the beak of a bird. The sheath, or 



B 



Tongue of the bee. A, a a, tonp^ue. B, b h, tongne ; c, sheath of the 

 tongue; d, muscles for moving the tongue. C, tongue greatly magnified. 



rather sheaths, for there are two, of the bee's tongue 

 are considerably different from similar organs in 

 other insects, one of these covering scarcely half 

 its length, and the other not extending quite round 

 the circumference. Each of the sheaths consists of 

 two pieces, which may be called the demi-sheath. 

 In order to see these different pieces distinctly, and 

 the ingenuity of their arrangement, it is necessary 

 to squeeze them gently at their origin, so as to make 

 them protrude, when its apparently simple structure 



