1 20 True Stomach and its Function. 



inch long and is rich in cells, which are held by a very 

 delicate membrane which extends on still further. Schie- 

 menz believes that this is a valve, and certainly unless drawn 

 by the strong muscles in the walls out of the stomach as 

 Schonfeld believes, it would act as a most efficient valve. 

 If this does act as a perfect valve, then of course the nurse 

 bees can never feed the larva or queen any digested food 

 from the true stomach. This is Schiemenz's view. Pastor 

 Schonfeld, however, still holds, and seems to have proved, 

 that while this may serve as a valve it is under the control 

 of the bee and may be so drawn up by the very muscular 

 honey-stomach as to permit regurgitation. In this regur- 

 gitation of chyle, the stomach-mouth closely approximates 

 the stomach end of the oesophagus; and so the chyle does 

 not pass into the honey-stomach. This prolongation then 

 is a valve under the control of the bee and is another 

 wonderful structure in this highly organized insect. 



The true stomach (Fig. zi, j) is curved upon itself and is 

 .4 of an inch long and .1 of an inch in diameter. It is 

 rugose, and the circular wrinkles or constrictions are quite 

 regular. It is richly covered within by gastric cells ( Fig. 40, 

 J, c) which secrete the gastric juice. The mucous membrane 

 is folded and hence there are very numerous gastric cells. 

 Undoubtedly the function of the gastric juice is the same 

 as in our own stomachs, it aids to liquify or render osmotic 

 — capable of being absorbed — the albuminous food, in this 

 case the pollen. This view is confirmed by the fact that 

 we almost always find pollen in all stages of digestion in 

 the true stomach of the bee. Emptying into the pyloric 

 or posterior end of the stomach (Fig. 21) are numerous' 

 tubules. These are the urinary organs, and remove waste 

 elements from the blood. They are really the bee's kid- 

 neys. Like our own kidneys they are nothing more than 

 tubules lined with excreting cells. The small intestine is 

 often called ileum (Fig. 21, i and A). This portion of the 

 digestive tube is lined with very minute, sharp chitinous 

 teeth which Schiemenz believes are used to further masti- 

 cate the pollen grains, that have not yielded to the digestive 

 action of the stomach. This opinion is sustained by the 

 strongly muscular nature of the tube (Fig. 21, A). The 



