92 ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY. [Ch. ii. 



mandibles, maxillse, and palpi work horizontally, and 

 serve as pincers or scissors. The mandibles are the two 

 side pieces which constitute the working portion of the 

 upper jaw. Fig. i ^ in Plate I. shows the mandible of 

 the queen, which, like that of the drone (Fig. 3 d), is 

 provided with two teeth, whilst the mandible of the 

 worker (Fig. 2 d) is without teeth. This last having to 

 manipulate the wax with smoothness, the teeth would 

 doubtless be objectionable. These mandibles are strong, 

 horny, and sharp-pointed, to assist in breaking down 

 food, and in other respects constitute serviceable tools 

 for seizing their enemies, ejecting the drones, etc. 



The tongue (Plate II. Fig. 3), or proboscis, is a 

 long slender projection, flattish in form, and about the 

 thickness of a bristle. It has about forty cartilaginous 

 rings, each of which is fringed with minute hairs, having 

 also a small tuft of hair at its extremity, where it is some- 

 what serrated. In movement it is like the trunk of an 

 elephant, and is susceptible of extension and contraction, 

 bending and twisting in all directions; and by rolling 

 about, it sweeps or laps up, by means of the fringes 

 around it, everything to which it is applied. Thus, when 

 a bee alights upon a flower, it pierces the petals and 

 stamens, where the nectar is secreted, and deposits its 

 collection on the tongue, from whence it passes into the 

 gullet (Plate I. Fig. 2 c) at its base. At times, in build- 

 ing combs, the tongue is used as a trowel, with which the 

 minute scales of wax are deposited in their appropriate 



