206 
regular way. Thus, for instance, Lombus terrestris, 
having of all our humble-bees the shortest tongue, forcibly 
opens the honey-tubes of Agudlegia, Trifolium pratense, 
Pedicularis sylvatica, and many other flowers ; sometimes 
by piercing the corolla by the tips of its maxilla, some- 
times by biting through the corolla by means of its jaws, 
and then steals the honey by guiding its proboscis into 
the honey-tube through the self-made opening. 
(5) When collecting the pollen of flowers the hive- and 
humble-bees moisten, as is well known, the pollen with 
honey before stripping it off with the brushes of their feet 
from the anthers and amassing it on the outside of the pos- 
terior tibiz. During this process the maxilla and the 
labium are commonly bent beneath the breast, as in 
Fic. 5.—The sucking apparatus of a humble-bee (Bombus hortorum, L. 2) 
placed in the hollow underside of the head, seen from beneath (7 : 1). 
inaction, almost as shown in Figs. 5 and 6, the jaws are 
opened, the labrum is raised, the opening of the mouth is 
brought near the pollen to be collected, and a drop of 
honey is spit out upon this pollen ; often also the bee 
before moistening the pollen with honey frees it while 
still enclosed in the anthers by chewing the anthers with 
its jaws. 
In quite a different manner I saw the hive-bee preceed 
when collecting the loose, dry pollen of P/antago lanceo- 
Zata, so easily shaken out. By vehement movements of 
its wings the bee maintains itself, steadily humming, at 
the same place in the air, close before the anthers, 
the pollen which it is about to collect; in this posi- 
tion it has its sucking-apparatus stretched forward, but 
the tongue quite enclosed between the laminz and labial 
palpi, and spits out of the sucking-pipe formed by these 
parts a drop of honey upon the anthers. Then it grasps 
very hastily, with the brushes of its anterior legs, amongst 
Fic, 6.—Lateral view of the same head. 
the anthers, and strips off the moistened pollen from them, 
while the dry pollen of the neighbouring anthers also 
shaken out, is disseminated, forming alittle cloud of dust. 
Consequently, also in this case the bee carries the base 
of its tongue folded into the mentum, and the cardines 
turned backward, precisely in the same manner as when 
flying from flower to flower, or when piercing honey-tubes 
by the tips of the laminz. 
Plantago lanceolata and other plants with equally loose, 
dry pollen, scattered by the wind, are honeyless ; on the 
other hand the pollen of all honey-flowers is collected by 
the hive- and humble-bees when holding their sucking 
organs retracted, whilst the honey of these flowers is 
obtained by their sucking-organs stretched forward ; hence 
it follows that hive-bees, humble-bees, and all the bees 
which are in the habit of moistening the pollen before 
collecting it, can never suck honey and collect pollen at _ 
the same time, but are obliged to perform alternately these — 
two actions after having commenced with sucking honey, of 
which they are in need for moistening the pollen to be 
collected, whereas all the bees which collect the pollen 
without moistening it, as, for instance, the Andrena, 
Osmia, and Megachile, are often observed sucking honey 
and collecting pollen at the same time. 
(6) When the bee is about to employ its jaws, or when — 
it wishes to rest, it rests the whole sucking apparatus 
in the hollow in the under-side of the head, by 
Fic. 7.—Two whorls of scales of the terminal portion of the tongue ofa blue 
Brazilian Euglossa’ (or Chrysantheda) ; the scales of each whorl alter- 
nating with those of the following one (80: 1). 
effecting all the four foldings above described, and bends 
beneath the breast those parts which do not find any room 
in this excavation, viz., the tongue, and the labial palpiand 
laminz enclosing it, as shown in Figs. 5 and 6. 
Everyone who has observed in nature the activity of the 
hive- and humble-bees will be surprised by the ease with 
which the numerous movements just described are effected 
by them, Nevertheless, when sucking honey out of tubes 
or spurs, they experience a sensible loss of time by so 
repeatedly protruding and retracting the tongue. This 
loss of time seems to be avoided by a. very singular con- 
trivance lately discovered in some Brazilian bees by my 
brother, Fritz Miiller, In these bees all the rings of the 
terminal portion of the tongue, from the tip to the sheath, 
formed by the labial palpi and laminz, are provided, as 
shown in Fig. 7, with whorls of narrow-staiked, broad 
scales instead of hairs, and these scales, lying closely upon 
one another, form together a tube around the prominent 
Fic. 8.—Gradations between hairs and scales, 
portion of the tongue which probably enables the bee to 
suck the honey out of the longest flower-tubes accessible 
to it without needing to retract the tongue. 
The first scale-bearing rings within the sheath of the 
tongue, offering numerous gradations by which hairs and 
scales graduate into each other, as shown in Fig. 8, indi- 
cate precisely the degrees of variability by which natural 
selection arrived at the broad narrow-stalked scales 
clothing the prominent portion of the tongue, 
HERMANN MULLER 
