THE HONEY BEE 35? 



slit-like openings of the reproductive system and an anal opening in 

 queen and worker. 



The sting has a pair of sting feelers by which the bee seems to choose 

 a favorable location for the deposit of the sting. Two barbed darts are 

 then sent out. There is a sheath which guides the darts and aids in con- 

 ducting the poison. The poison is secreted in a pair of glands, one acid 

 and one alkaline, and it is then stored in a reservoir. It is commonly 

 believed that if a bee stings, it dies. This is not necessarily true ; but, 

 very often a part of the intestine and the poison glands are pulled out 

 of the body with the sting, and then, of course, the insect cannot live. 



Oueens usually do not sting except in combat with other queens. 



INTERNAL ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY 

 THE DIGESTIVE SYSTEM 



Beginning at the anterior end, the digestive system (Fig. 234), is 

 made up of mouth, oesophagus or gullet, honey-sac or honey-stomach, 

 true stomach, small intestine or ileum, and large intestine or colon. 



The oesophagus passes through the thorax and is expanded into a 

 honey-sac at the anterior end of the abdomen. A stomach-mouth with 

 four triangular lips is found at the posterior portion of the honey-sac. 

 A number of bristles extends backward from the top of the lips. If the 

 alimentary canal be placed in a one-half of one per cent salt solution im- 

 mediately after the bee is killed, these lips will open and close for about 

 thirty minutes. Both circular and longitudinal muscles surround the 

 lips. 



The glands in the walls of the stomach secrete digestive juices which 

 change the food into chyme. Part of this is absorbed and part forced 

 back into the ileum by muscular contractions. Here undigested food is 

 dissolved and also absorbed, while that which is not digested is thrown 

 into the colon, and from here, out of the body. No faeces are deposited 

 in the hive if bees are kept in proper condition. 



Two pairs of salivary glands may be found : one pair within the 

 head lying against the cranium, and one pair in the ventral portion of 

 the anterior half of the thorax. The substances secreted from these 

 glands are weakly alkaline and are poured out upon the labium. Here 

 they act on the food as it is ingested. 



THE CIRCULATORY SYSTEM 



The blood of the honey bee is quite like that of the crayfish and 

 grasshopper, as it is colorless and contains amoeboid corpuscles. Little, 

 if any, oxygen is contained within it. 



The crayfish is also like the bee in that it has a dorsal blood vessel 

 and many sinuses, but the'bee's circulatory system is even less. complete 

 than that of the crayfish. 



