550 E. N. I'AVLOVSKY AND E. J. ZARIN 



digestive ferments ("proteolytic ferment) have been found 

 in the saliva ; they are certainly present in the bee as well, 

 otherwise the presence of a com))lex system of salivary gland 

 would be incomprehensible. The task at hand is to study 

 their ferments, if only it will be possible to apjdy to them the 

 method of preparation for the extraction of ferments, which 

 presents great difficulties in the given case. 



The data obtained by our work allow of an attempt to a partial 

 solution of the question regarding the food regime of the bee 

 and regariHng the assimilation of different sorts of food by it. 

 We shall meanwhile adduce a particular case. Petersen fed 

 bees on oil emulsion in sugar solution and arrived at the 

 conclusion that ' das meiste Fett, audi der normalen Nahrung, 

 den Darm passiert, ohne gespalten oder resorbiert zu werden. 

 Der feste Aggregatzustand des Kotfettes und seine Loslichkeit 

 in Alkohol sind merkwiirdig und lassen an einen reichlichen 

 Gehalt von Fettsiiuren denken ' (loc. cit., p. 14H). 



The fact that we have constantly found lipase in the extracts 

 from the stomach of bees refutes Petersen's view just quoted 

 that fat passes through the stomach of the bee without splitting. 

 Since the stomach contains a special ferment, it is obvious that 

 it is produced for a respective purpose, i. e. in the given cases 

 for the digestion of fat. 



The next stage in the study of the digestive processes in bees 

 should be experiments on preferential feeding of these insects 

 with different nutritive substances conducted on a wide scale 

 and the determination of the character of excretion and action 

 of ferments in artificial conditions. The results of such an 

 investigation are important not only from the theoretical but 

 from the practical point of view as well. Bee-keepers have 

 always to deal with the difficult task of artificial feeding of bees 

 in winter, which frequently results in the appearance of 

 dangerous diseases among these insects. When the conditions 

 in which the intestine of the bee works are known, and a clear 

 idea regarding the metabolism of its substances during the 

 different seasons of the year is arrived at, it W'ill be possible 

 to solve the question regarding the methods of feeding it 



