The American Apiculturist 



A .lOUKNAI- FOK TllK NOVICK AND KXl'KKT. 



Devoted to Best Races of Bees, Best Hives, Best Implements and Best 



Methods of Management to make Beekeeping a Success. 

 PUBLISHED MONTHLY. HKNKY ALLEY, Manager. 



VOL. VI. 



WENHAM, MASS., JULY, 1888. 



No. 7. 



Corresponbcnte. 



Contribution to the Physiology of 

 the Honey-bee. 



L. Stachklhausen. 



I A^r willing to write a series of arti- 

 cles lor the Apr, in which I will explain 

 how the bees feed themselves and the 

 larvae, and somethini; in close connec- 

 tion herewith. Nearly all the ideas given 

 in the followini; articles and all the ex- 

 periments i)elong to l\cv. Schoenleld in 

 Germany, who not only is a practical bee- 

 keeper, but a scientilic entomologist and 

 physioloiiist, too. Tiie most of Ihem, I 

 will say, are entirely new and, as far as I 

 know, were never belore pnl)lished in the 

 English language. They are of eminent 

 scienlitic interest, but important too for 

 the practical beekeeper. The space of 

 this journal will not allow to give a full 

 translation of Schoenfeld's diflerent arti- 

 cles, so I will write as briefly as possible. 



The stomacli-inouth. 

 If we carefully examine the honey-stom- 

 ach of a bee, we shall see on the lower 

 part, somewhat sidewards, a small body 



A is the honey-stomach, IJ the true stomach, Cthe 

 stomach-mouth. 



about as large as a half poppy-grain. This 

 body is the organ which Schoenfeld named 

 the stomach-mouth. This organ has been 

 known many years, but its function was 

 not correctly explained. 



The cut is no true picture of the organ. 

 The opening p is closed by four three- 



12 



cornered lips which together form over 

 the round tube, n, m, p, a pyramid. The 

 bee can open these four lips arbitrarily by 

 muscles. The tube jomn is prolonged into 

 the true stomacli till o (n o is about one 

 millimeter long) here turns up and goes 

 back to 11, where it is in connection with 

 the wall of the true stomach. Around 

 the throat m n area great number ol mus- 

 cles. It is easy to see that the throat m n 

 can be prolonged by turning out tiie piece 

 n inside of the true stomach. This or- 

 gan is very important; without the same 

 the bees could not store honey at all. We 

 shall see this, if we explain 



How the bees eat honey. 



It is well known that the bees take hon- 

 ey or nectar from the cell or from flowers 

 by their tongues. How this is done I will 

 not explain here. This fluid goes thiough 

 the pharynx into the honey-sion)ach. If 

 the stomach-mouth in;; had arounil open- 

 ing only, as represented in the cut, the 

 food brought into tlie honey-stomach 

 would at once pass into the true stomach, 

 but the four lips close this opening, and 

 so it is possible that the honey-stomach 

 can be flUed and by contraction of the same 

 (arbitrary again) the bees can empty this 

 honey-stomach again through pharynx and 

 outer mouth. 



But necessarily the four lips are to be 

 closed and opened arbitrarily. If the bee 

 wants to get some honey into the true 

 stomach the four lips are opened and some 

 honey goes from tiie honey-stomach into 

 the true stoniach ; so these four lips are 

 closed and opened, if the bee wants to 

 eat or not. 



We see now, how it is possible, that 

 bees can winter and take no honey from 

 the cells for some time. A swarm can be 

 confined for some days, while a bee with 

 empty honey-stomach "will starve in thirty- 

 six hours. 



We can say this organ is the true 

 mouth of the bee, and the true alimentary 

 canal commences here. The outer mouth 

 and the tongue are merely the hands i)y 

 which the bees eat, and the honey-stom- 

 ach is the store-room. 



(135) 



