53G 



GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTURE 



Sept. 1 



FIG. S— TRANSVERSE SECTION THROrOH THE STOMACH-MOUTH IN 

 THE MIDsT OF THE LIPS, THE HONEV-SAC BEING EMPTY. 



ume of honey. When 

 the honey-sac is en- 

 tirely full this inner 

 skin is plain and ex- 

 tended; but the less 

 the sac contains, the 

 higher and more nu- 

 merous these folds or 

 plies become. This is 

 exactly the case with 

 the rectum, the size of 

 which, as mentioned 

 before, also differs 

 very greatly. On the 

 outer side of this skin 

 we find minute longi- 

 tudinal fibers coming 

 from the chyle-stomach 

 passing the surface of 

 the honey-sac in slings. 

 It is these minute fi- 

 bers, or fibrils, which 

 hold the honey-sac and 

 chyle-stomach togeth- 

 er.' It is clear that a 

 contraction of these 

 fibrils squeezes the 

 honey- sac, and also 

 brings the end of it a 

 little^ closer (together 

 with the stomachal 

 mouth) , to the esopha- 

 gus. Outside this lay- 

 er of longitudinal fi- 

 brils are circular fibrils 

 which extend around 

 the honey-sac UUe the 

 hoops of a barrel. The 

 contraction of these 



in a robber coming out of a rob- 

 bed colony, it may be larger than 

 a hemp grain. When I catch a 

 robber for observation I remove 

 the head with a pair of scissors 

 and then draw out the esopha- 

 gus, which is a fine thread, 

 stronger than the small intes- 

 tine. If the stomach-mouth is 

 quickly examined with a magni- 

 fying-glass, one may be aston- 

 ished to see, through the trans- 

 parent honey-sac, a tiny knob 

 with four lips which are con- 

 stantly opening and shutting 

 themselves, making an interest- 

 ing spectacle. These are the 

 four stomach-lips, which will be 

 described later. 



We will first consider the hon- 

 ey-sac, which is the receptacle 

 for even the smallest drop of 

 honey which the bee gathers. 

 For the main part, this honey- 

 sac has three layers. The in- 

 most layer is a very thin skin, 

 generally folded together, mak- 

 ing innumerable plies. This is 

 necessary so that it will stretch 

 to accommodate the largest vol- 



FIG. 9.-THE SAME AS FIG. S. BUT THE HONEV-SAC NOT 

 QUITE EMPTY. 



