ANTS, BEES AND WASPS 175 



her abdomen is larger and longer, and ends in a blunt point ; her 

 sting, or ovipositor, is long and curved, while the worker's is short 

 and quite straight ; the jaws and tongue, too, are differently 

 formed, and she has not the remarkable appliances which fit the 

 worker bee for her labours. 



The tongue, as it is usually called, of the worker bee is a remark- 

 able structure, consisting of six or seven separate parts which 

 fit perfectly together lengthwise, forming, as it were, a tube within 

 a tube. The central part is longer than the rest, and ends in a 

 hairy spatula with which the bee laps up small quantities of fluid ; 

 but when she rifles a deep flower cup of its nectar the sweet fluid 

 is drawn Up the trunk with a pump-like action by the aid of strong 

 tongue muscles. As the nectar passes through the mouth to the 

 honey-sac, or first stomach, of the bee it is mingled automatically 

 with a minute quantity of an acid secretion from two glands having 

 a common opening at the root of the tongue ; and thus it under- 

 goes the first process of conversion into honey. When the honey 

 is to be used as brood-food it is allowed to pass through a valve 

 into the lower or second stomach, where, combined with pollen, 

 it undergoes a process of digestion, converting it into a substance 

 called " chyle," and this, when regurgitated by the nursing bees, 

 is acted upon by yet other glands situated in the mouth, which 

 finally change it into the " bee milk " given to larvae, queen, 

 and in smaller quantities to the drones. 



On almost every joint of her six legs the worker bee has a 

 tuft of stiff bristles, while her hind legs are provided with a per- 

 fect little curry-comb which is used for combing out the pollen 

 dust from the hairs that clothe her body. The thigh of each 

 hind leg is broadened and hollowed out and set with rows of 

 transverse bristles, called the " pollen basket." In this the bee 

 packs the pollen she has collected, after moistening it and rolling 

 it into a ball. 



The jaws of the worker are strong and smooth, with a sharp 

 cutting edge, whereas the queen's have a notched edge. The 

 sting of the worker consists of three separate blades with a barbed 

 edge, one being broader than the others and furnished with a 

 beaded edge on each side, while the two slender needle-like lances 

 arc grooved longitudinally. The beaded edges of the central 

 blade, called the " director," fit perfectly into these grooves, and 



