1^09 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE. 



57 



Fig. 2. — Transverse section of the mouth pins at the height of the lirst third of the lip-fee'er; 



tr, trachea; r, tod; m. mantle; /'/. m, blade of maxilla; ho. m, body of maxilla; W. /. /, 



blade of lip-feeler; /'o. I. /, body of lip-feeler. 



Ion can. I was asked to taste it, and state how 

 I liked it and what I thought it was. I remark- 

 ed that it resembled apricot jam with a slight hon- 

 ey-rtavor. I was then told that it was apricot 

 "honey;" that it was gathered by bees up the 

 Sacramento River, where apricots were being 

 dried. I should think the bees got the best of 

 those 'cots. In such a case it behooves the api- 

 arist to take his bees far off, or else for the or- 

 chardist to ''kiln-dry" his fruit instead of sun- 

 drying it, that bees might not swarm upon it and 

 do too much damage by carrying off the juicp. 

 But seldom do we hear of any great injury of 

 this sort. 



Oakland, Cal. 



THE MOUTH OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



A Comparison Between the Correspond- 

 ing Parts of the Qu^en, Drone, and 

 Worker. 



BY DR. BRUNNICH. 



Every bee-keeper will be interested in a study 

 of the mouth of the honey-bee; and without go- 

 ing much into detail I wish to show the differ- 

 ences in the parts of the mouth of the worker, 

 queen, and drone. Vot clearly demonstrating 

 those variations I magnified, by microphotogra- 

 phy, the three different organs in the same pro- 

 portion. Everybody can see that the develop- 

 ment of the mouth of the worker is by far the 

 most advanced. It will be well to explain brief- 

 ly the more simple mouth parts of the worker; 

 for to give an extensive explanation of the com- 

 plicated parts would re(]uire the space of about 

 two numbers of this journal, and would undoubt- 

 ly annoy and tire most of the readers. 



In the middle we see the slender tongue, which, 

 on account of the great number of minute parts, 

 is very flexible, as we all have observed when 

 watching a bee licking a drop of honey. The 

 tongue of the bee is not a simple tube, but an in- 

 tricate structure, as we see in a section through 

 the tongue, lip-feeler, and maxilla (Fig. 2). In 

 the midst of the tongue there is the elastic roJ, 

 giving the necessary firmness. Enveloping the 

 rod is the mantle, whose free ends touch each 



other, thus forming two 

 channels on the sides of 

 the rod. This mantle 

 can be unfolded by the 

 bee at will. The small 

 spoon at the point of the 

 tongue (Figs. 3 and 4) 

 serves probably for t^jjt- 

 ///^, and has certainly or- 

 gans of taste. 



On the under side of 

 the tongue proper are the 

 Up-" feelers,'' which have 

 feeling - bristles on the 

 ends; on the upper side 

 of the tongue are the 

 ma.xiltfc. The tongue, 

 lip-feelers, and maxilht 

 may be shut like the 

 blade of a knife, and are 

 then imbedded in a ci>r- 

 respnnding cavity on the 

 under fide of the head. There is a wonderful 

 snapping mechanism like that on a knife, but 

 this is very complicated, and diffcult to explain. 

 There are in the base of the tongue two springs, 

 fixing the bent or stretched position of the three 

 mouth-parts, (^ne circumstance which compli- 

 cates the mechanisn is this: The tongue, when it 

 is bent (Fig. 4), is folded together on its base. 

 By this the tongue is shortened considerably, so 

 that in the folded-up condition the ends of the 

 tongue, lip-feelers, and maxillae are exactly the 

 same height. Thus the length of the tongue does 

 not hinder other work of the bee (building, chew- 

 ing, etc.). It is, indeed, a wonderful mechanism. 



Formerly, when a 

 queen or worker 

 was fed by another 

 worker, I often ask- 

 ed myself whether 

 the act were a pas- 

 sive or an active 

 one. That is to 

 say, does the queen 

 get the feed by hav- 

 ing it " poured in," 

 or must she suck 

 the feed herself. I 

 now know that the 

 latter is the case. 

 The feeding bee 

 bends down its 

 tongue and opens 

 its throat, pressing 

 out a drop of honey 

 or chyle, and at the 

 same time the 

 queen sucks the 

 drop with the 

 stretched tongue. 



Comparing the 

 corresponding parts 

 of the mouth of 

 the three kinds of 

 bees, we are struck 

 by the poor devel- 

 opment of the 

 tongue of the queen 

 and drone, as com- 

 pared with that of 



Fig. ?. — End of tongue of worker, 

 magnified 70 times. 



