ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICROSCOPY, ETC. 881 



case, eacli stroke of the piston forces out a drop of poison, and at the 

 same time a fresh afflux of liquid is produced at the base. The 

 apparatus, then, is at once aspiratory and injecting ; it has the form 

 of a syringe with a perforating canula, and by its two pistons 

 a parachute, it drives out by the canula the liquid which it draws in 

 at its base. 



Anatomy and Functions of the Tongue of the Honey Bee 

 (Worker).* — T. J. Briant minutely describes and figures the structure 

 of the tongue of a worker honey-bee, and makes the following obser- 

 vations regarding its use by the insect. 



If a bee be put to a large drop of honey, it will be found to open 

 slightly the whole of the organs of the tongue, and with a scarcely 

 perceptible motion to suck in honey, no doubt by means of the mus- 

 cular pharynx. Flowers, however, do not ordinarily contain nectar in 

 such abundance, and in order to obtain the conditions more nearly 

 approaching those in nature the honey should be presented smeared 

 thinly on glass. The bee will clear off every trace of honey and 

 leave the glass clean. This is done by the bee applying the lower 

 and outer portion of the tongue to the glass. The long joints of the 

 labial palpi just touch the glass, the shorter joints being bent outwards 

 at right angles. The tongue is then extended and retracted with 

 great regularity and some speed, and to the author it appears that the 

 extension is a somewhat slower movement than the retraction. When 

 the tongue is in this position the " ladle " will be turned with its 

 concave side downwards, and that surface of the tongue which is split 

 will be upwards. The pressure on the surface of the glass will move 

 the rod to the opposite side of the tubular portion of the tongue in 

 that part of it which is being pressed against the glass. This will 

 cause the two membranes to form a trough, which will of course be 

 opened on its upper surface ; and it seems impossible to the author to 

 suppose that the honey does not pass into this trough. As the tongue is 

 being retracted, the rod which was pressed against the inner side of 

 tlie tongue will pass over to the front side, and so considerably enlarge 

 the trough made by the membranes in the upper portion of the tongue, 

 and the edges of the slit in the outer wall being closely united by 

 interlocking hairs, the result will be the creation of a vacuum which 

 will draw up the honey from the lower portion of the tongue. The 

 tongue is then again extended ; but now the salivary chamber is 

 enlarging as the tongue is protruded, and the honey is so carried 

 up still higher and into the mouth, whence it is once more drawn up 

 by the muscular pharynx. 



This, however, will not account for the bee being able to remove 

 minute traces of honey. Tho hairs of the tongue will sweep backward 

 the honey, that is to say, will drive it away from tho mouth, towards 

 the end of the tongue itself, and tho ladle-shaped organ will then serve, 

 as the tongue is being withdrawn, to collect and drive into the tongue 

 the honey thus collected. When within the tongue, the capillarity of 

 the narrow groove, assisted by tho action of tho salivary chamber, will 



• Jouru. Linu. Hoc. Loud. (Zool.), xvii. (1884) pp. 408-17 (2 pis.). 



