ZOOLOGY AND BOTANY, MICEOSCOPY, ETC. 225 



are much larger and less liable to variation than in Apis mellifica ; for the 

 former, he used as staining reagent acid carmine, but for the latter, borax 

 carmine or haematoxylin. After a general account of the structure of the 

 mouth-parts, the author proceeds to describe their finer anatomy. 



The tongue is described as having a groove with its edges directed down- 

 wards, which extends as a closed canal along the whole length of the 

 chitinous rod, and only posteriorly widens out into the lingual groove ; 

 the small-spoonlike process is nothing more than the continuation of the 

 chitinous rod which projects over the lingual mantle ; the outer membrane 

 of the latter is highly chitinized and covered with the long anteriorly 

 directed setse, which were called by Wolff collecting hairs ; these are 1/5 mm. 

 long, terminate in a fine tip, and are inserted in regularly arranged whorls ; 

 these last form horny arches which support the walls of the tongue. The 

 hairs are longest and strongest on the dorsal side of the tongue, and 

 decrease in length and strength as they pass backwards ; at the tip they 

 form a branch which is very well adapted to take up the honey. The 

 length of the whole tongue is, in workers of Apis mellifica about 6 • 5 mm., 

 in drones and queens about one-half of that, the shortness, of course, being 

 correlated with their mode of life ; the tongue varies in breadth, and is 

 longer behind than in front ; in Apis it is from • 045-0 " 085 mm. broad 

 anteriorly, and 0*16-0 '18 mm. posteriorly. 



In the chapter on the mentum, the paraglossae are described as scale- 

 like structures which form the inner sheath of the tongue ; on their upper 

 surface they are very horny and beset with tactile hairs, while below they 

 are formed of delicate membrane ; the glands formed by the side of the 

 tongue in Bombus are wanting in Apis, and this fact, together with the 

 small size of the system, leads us to think that they have no important 

 function ; as no chemical investigation of their secretion was possible, it is 

 not easy to say what that function is, but their position leads us to suppose 

 that they must oil the neighbouring parts and diminish the friction of 

 the chitinous organs. 



From the few observations the author was able to make, he concludes 

 that in bees the sense of smell and taste are not physiologically separated. 

 The musculature and mechanism of the apparatus of the labium has been 

 very closely investigated, and is carefully described ; with regard to the 

 suctorial act, the experiments which were made seem to show that there 

 are two possible paths by which the honey may be taken up ; one is by the 

 great suctorial tube of the proboscis, when the bee only licks the sugar 

 with its tongue, and the other is by the capillary tube of the chitinous rod 

 which would take up the last remains of the sugar. The bee, then, only 

 licks so long as there is sufficient fluid ; when this begins to fail, and the 

 honey can only be reached by the outermost tip of the tongue, the tube is 

 put into use. 



Wall-bee and its Parasites.* — Herr K. Lamport has studied the life- 

 history and parasites of the wall-bee (JJhalicodoma muraria). In the case of 

 this solitary bee, there are, as is well-known, no special workers. The 

 female builds the many-celled stony nest on the warm side of rough-hewn 

 walls, stores it with honey, lays the eggs, and shuts them up. If the 

 weather is good as many as 16 cells may be built. In northern countries 

 there is only one annual brood. The larvae pass into the pupa-stage in 

 June and July, spin a glassy skin, and remain for a variable period 

 quiescent. The young bee does not get out till spring, however, and some 



* Jahreshefte d. Vereins f. Vaterl. Naturk. in Wiirtt., 1886. Cf. Naturforscher, xx. 

 (1887) pp. 15-6. 



