THE AMERICAN APICULTURIST. 



functions to the newly-described 

 organ — all these things will have 

 to be proved or disproved by further 

 observations. But, at any rate, the 

 following article, translated from 

 the Bulletin cV Apiculture of Switz- 

 erland, is interesting and instruct- 

 ive. 



F. B. 

 Munich, Germany. 



Mr. Nassonoff, a naturalist con- 

 nected with the Imperial Acclima- 

 tization Society of Moscow, wiiile 

 dissecting, in the apiary of this 

 society, the abdomen of a bee in 

 order to study the structure of the 

 glands of its outer covering, ob- 

 served near the last ring, which 

 belongs to the cone-shaped portion, 

 a small canal (A) which passes 

 along the edge of the dorsal half of 

 tlie ring, and is covered above by 

 the edge of the preceding half-ring. 

 Mr. Nassonoff calls to mind the fact 

 that bees when irritated often raise 

 their abdomens turning the tips 

 (the fifth ring) downward in such a 

 manner that the last two rings 

 spread apart and show a white stripe 

 wliicli separates thera.^ It is ex- 

 actly upon the posterior part of this 

 stripe that tlie small canal in ques- 

 tion is found, opening toward the 

 space between the rings. 



At the bottom of this canal a 

 large number of small glands 

 open, each one of which has an oval 

 cell (B) with a well-defined glob-, 

 ule. From each cell a fine duct 

 starts out and extends to the bot- 

 tom of the canal in question. The 



1 This same stripe can be seen when bees 

 beat their wi)ig:s in ventilating the hive or as 

 a sign of contentment. — F. B. 



walls of these ducts are of the 

 same texture as the hard portions 

 of the cutaneous coverlno". 



Section of the cutaneons covering of the last 

 ring ((i) and next to the last ring (5) of the 

 worker-bee. A, the small canal ; B, the gland - 

 ules; C, the ducts of the glandules. 



This description completed, Mr. 

 Nassonoff goes on to conjecture as 

 to the use of the glandules referred 

 to and wonders if they secrete the 

 wax or the perspiration ; but reject- 

 ing, himself, the first hypothesis on 

 account of the evidence assigning 

 the formation of wax to numerous 

 segments on the under side of the 

 abdomen, he stops with the second 

 supposition, basing it upon the 

 absence of other glandules ( ?) on 

 the body of the bee. 



Without rejecting absolutely Mr. 

 Nassonoff's supposition, I compare 

 the existence of the above men- 

 tioned glandules with tlie observa- 

 tion reported in one of the numbers 

 of the Bulletin regarding the little 

 drops that bees let fall before 

 entering their hives. It is well 

 known that bees partake freely 

 of liquid substances although they 

 may contain a large proportion of 

 water, like the nectar of flowers 

 moistened by rain or dew; never- 

 theless, the honey deposited in the 

 cells does not contain the same 

 proportion of water as the sub- 

 stances taken by the bees. That 

 proves that the little drops men- 

 tioned represent the liquid excess 



