416 ME. T. J. BEIATJT ON THE TONGUE OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



of tLe ttair seem opposed to the idea that its withdrawal in the 

 tubular surroundings would drive the honey towards the head ; 

 (3) the dense covering of hair seems to make such a mode of 

 action impossible ; (4) it does not account for the organs inside 

 the tongue nor for the ladle-shaped appendage before referred to. 



Shuckard, in his ' British Bees ' (p. 37), although he holds to 

 the lapping theory, says that if a bee be observed whilst sipping 

 any sweet liquid, the anterior portion of the tongue will be some- 

 times seen more swollen than when [? not] in action, and altera- 

 tions will be observed in it of varying expansions. At another 

 place he says the bee is also seen to curve the tongue about, 

 causing from time to time the superior surface to become con- 

 cave, to give, as it were, to the liquid with which it is loaded a 

 downward inclination towards the head. The extremity is fre- 

 quently above the surface of the liquid, and again the tongue 

 can swell and contract ; " these swellings and constrictions are 

 observed to succeed each other." 



These observations seem to me to support the theory I have 

 here ventured to propound, namely, that the honey is drawn 

 into the mouth through the inside of the tongue by means of a 

 complicated pumping action of the tongue itself and its closely 

 contiguous parts, and not in any sense by lapping. 



DESCEIPTION OF THE PLATES. 

 Plate XVIII. 



Fig. 1. Longitudinal section through head of Bee, without muscles, a, Chiti- 

 ' nous pillar supporting the front of the head ; b, second pillar, from 



the side of which arises the thin chitinous wall c ; d, cardo ; /, base of 



maxilla. 



2. Transverse section through same, a, 5, and d as before; Ea;m and 



Ex m^, muscles insei-ted into the head of cardo ; ri, retractor of 

 tongue. 



3. Longitudinal section through head, with muscles, h, Thin wall of the 



upper side of mouth-cavity ; r, salivary duct ; ri as in fig. 2 ; s, pha- 

 rynx ; ff, mentum ; e, lora. 



4. Longitudinal section through anterior end of head, with muscles, a, 



Portion of chitinous pillar as in fig. I; h, s, and ri as in fig. 3 ; j, 

 chitinous strap divaricating the maxilla;; /, base of maxilla ; vw, mx'^, 

 and mx^ respectively, muscles of the maxilla. 



6. Enlarged figui-e of the base of maxilla and adjacent parts, d, Cardo ; e, 

 lora; /, basal joint; g. mentum; h as in fig; 3; ^' as in fig. 4 ; mx', 

 mx'^, mx^, ends of muscles mx^, mx^, and mx^ of fig. 4 ; mx^, muscle 

 lying behind j, which draws tlie maxilla outwards : mx^, extensor of 

 blade of maxilla, mx'^ ; mx''. 



6. Tongue of Q,ueen Bee and adjacent parts, from above, d, Section through 

 cardo ; e, f, g, j, as before ; h, section through thin wall of mouth- 

 cHvity, as in figs. 3 and 4 ; o, lever at root of tongue from above ; r, 

 salivary gland ; rt, retractor of tongue ; s^, muscles inserted into sides 

 of the outer Avail of salivary valve ; s^, muscles inserted into the centre 

 of same. 



