T1ECS. 33 



itself to a smooth surfuce, by exhausting- the air after the 

 manner of a sucker. 



The abdomen is the last portion of the body. It is 

 composed externally of ring's, diminishing* in diameter, and 

 sliding- one witliin another in order to shorten or lengthen 

 the body. It contains all the most important vital organs, 

 which will be described in the paragraph on the internal 

 anatomy of the bee. Along the two sides of the abdomer. 

 are ranged the spu'acles, or apertures leading to the respira- 

 tory apparatus. The whole of the body is covered more o^ 

 less thickly with hairs, which when placed under a good 

 microscope prove to be straight and branched, so that a 

 group of hairs looks very like a clump of bamboos. 



We will now proceed to the examination of the internal 

 anatomy of the bee. As the anatomy of the humble-bee is 

 precisely the same as that of the hive queen-bee, I have 

 preferred taking* it as an example, because its very much 

 superior size enables the various organs to be seen without 

 magnifying, an assistance which should never be had re- 

 course to unless necessary. 



On laying open the abdomen of a female humble-bee, the 

 first thing that strikes the observer will be the masses of 

 fat obscuring- the organs. As bees are not visited by the 

 ichneumon-flies, like the caterpillars, whose fat is so often 

 kindly cleared away by the ichneumon-larva, the first thing 

 the dissector must do, is to free the organs from every par- 

 ticle of fat, which by the assistance of a needle and a very 

 fine pair of forceps, he can easiiy do. The following organs 

 Vvill then lie open to him. 



Connected with the proboscis, and passing* completely 

 through the thorax, will be seen the tube called the oeso- 

 phagus, or gullet, which serves to convey the food into the 

 next part of the digestive apparatus, the honey-bag. This 

 important organ acts as a reservoir from which the food may 

 either be returned to the mouth, or pass into the true 

 stomach, just below. The honey, when it is taken from the 

 Howers, is stored in the honey-bag until the bee reaches 

 home. In that organ it appears to undergo a change, which 

 gives it the peculiar opacity and consistence so character- 

 istic of good honey. In fact, the honey -bag performs much 

 the same functions in the bee, that the ruminating* stomaclj 



