34 



BRITISH BEES. 



pubescence, which enables the bee to gather up the nectar 

 it laps. That it should be called the lip seems an ab- 

 surdity, for it exercises all the functions of a tongue, and 



Fig. 8. Extremes of structure of tongues: 1, in subnormal bees (Col- 

 letes) ; 2, in normal bees (Anthoplwra). a, tongue ; b, paraglossae ; c, 

 labial palpi ; d, maxillae ; e, maxillary palpi ; /, labium. 



it would seem almost that the fine hairs, with which it 

 is covered, are the papillae of taste. Its structure in 

 some genera seems to be a spiral thread twining closely 

 round and round, but in others it appears throughout 

 identical. 



This tongue was formerly thought to be tubular, and 

 that the bee sucked the honey through an aperture at 

 its apex. The knowledge of the flat form of the tongues 

 of other bees should have dissipated the illusion, for we 

 could have been perfectly sure of the analogical struc- 

 ture and function of an organ in creatures so nearly 

 alike. Reaumur's patient observations have totally 

 dissipated the mistake, and through him we exactly 

 know how the bee conveys the honey into its stomach 



