§ II.] HEAD AND ORGANS OF SENS A TION. 91 



write those sections of his own work that relate to the 

 senses of bees, as being "beyond doubt the best-informed 

 of apiarians on these subjects ") gives a decided opinion 

 that the stemmata serve only for the most distant objects, 

 while the compound eyes, which are much more highly 

 refractivej become available when closer at hand. Thus 

 these eyes, which we compared to telescopes, are credited 

 with the least of telescopic power, an.d serve for nearer 

 observation after all. How much nearer, however, we 

 are not yet in a position to say, and nothing need be 

 withdrawn of what is stated above as to the far-sighted- 

 ness of bees. The compound eyes are assumed to be 

 also serviceable in the twilight, and thus to afford some 

 vision in the interior of a hive. It is worth mentioning, 

 as a rare compliment from a German to an English 

 apiarian, that Schonfeld declares the best anatomical 

 description of the eyes of our insect to be given by 

 Samuelson in his work, " The Honey Bee."* 



The mouth . of the bee is a most complex structure, 

 marvellously adapted for its duties, and consists of .the 

 labrum, or upper lip, with the , mandibles, or upper gills, 

 and of the labium, or lower lip, which is made up of the 

 ligula or tongue, also called the proboscis, the labial 

 palpi, and the paraglossse, together with the maxillse, or 

 lower gills — we adopt this word "gills" from the German 

 for want of a better. The jaws open vertically, but the 



* The compliment belongs doubtless lo Dr. Hicks, to whom the 

 anatomical portion of that work is presumably due. 



