442 SUMMARY OF CURRENT RESEARCHES RELATING TO 



has been allowed to take place. How the compressed gas or vapour 

 is produced does not appear. 



Glands connected with the Bee's Tongue.* — In going over 

 Mr. J. D. Hyatt's work on the structure of the tongue of the honey- 

 bee,t Mr. J. Spaulding found in the mentum a small sjnral tube, 

 and following up the clue thus given, he discovered that it led to 

 a glandular structure which he believes has not hitherto been 

 described. 



The process of dissection is to run the scalpel from the base 

 of one mandible back across close to the neck and forward to the 

 other mandible, turning forward and pinning : remove the brain 

 and salivary glands ; cut the oesophagus, as far forward as possible, 

 turn it back, and there will be seen coming from the thorax the 

 spiral ducts of two glands, which will be found lying one on 

 each side of the cesophagus, in the space between the muscles of 

 the wings. These consist of a dense mass of coiled and twisted 

 glands. At the base the duct enlarges into quite a reservoir. The 

 ducts unite within the neck, or just as they enter the head, and 

 following the floor of the latter are joined by a pair coming in right 

 and left. F<dlowing up one of these side glands, it is found to divide 

 into three main branches, ultimately terminating in glands. The 

 glands from the thorax bear a striking resemblance to the Malphigian 

 tubules of insects, whilst those from the head are larger, different in 

 shape, and composed of much smaller cells. Keeping to the floor of 

 the head, the main duct passes on to the sub-mentum. Here, on join- 

 ing the spiral tube coming from the lingula, it passes by an opening, 

 common to both, into the mouth. Below the opening, the spiral 

 tube dij)S into the mentum, and is imbedded in its muscles. At 

 a point a little lower down it seems to terminate, judging from 

 a side view, but a series of cross-sections shows it to gradually widen 

 from this point to near the base of the ligula, where it terminates 

 in a chamber that leads above into the sac and below by a valvular 

 opening into the groove in the rod. This trumpet-shaped part is 

 collapsed, the upper half of the tube being pr<ssed down into the 

 lower. 



The author considers that it may be concluded from the size, posi- 

 tion, and outlet of the glands, connected as they are with an inlet for 

 the nectar of flowers, that they are organs that furnish the animal 

 secretion that changes nectar into honey, and suggests that they may 

 be the spinning glands of the larvae modified, in which case they 

 should be found either in an active or aborted condition in nearly all 

 Hymenoptera. In conveying the nectar from the flower to its mouth, 

 the bee probably uses the rod and sac as a suction- and force-pump ; 

 at least the author considers " it should, and if it does not, it is pure 

 stupidity on its part. If some one demonstrates that I am all wrong 

 now, evolution at no distant day will set me right, for there will be 

 born a bee, less conservative, that will dare defy old usages and take 



* Araer. Natural., xv. (1881) pp. 113-9 (5 figs.). 

 t Amcr. Quart. Wicr. Journ., i. (187'J). 



