298 PERIPATUS, MYRIOPODS, AND INSECTS. 



opens by a complicated orifice, with a remarkable stopper 

 arrangement, into the digestive region or chyle stomach, 

 which is separated by a pylorus from the coiled small 

 intestine. The inner wall of the small intestine bears 

 numerous rows of chitinous teeth set in longitudinal ridges, 



and is perforated by the 

 apertures of the excretory 

 tubules. At the junction 

 of the small with the large_ 

 intestine there are six 

 brownish plates, perhaps 

 functioning as valves. 



In connection with the anter- 

 ior region of the gut there is a 

 very complicated series of glands. 

 First we have, in the workers 

 only, on either side of the head, 

 a long coiled gland which is 

 intracellular in type. It is 

 largest in the so-called " nurses " 

 which feed the young, and 

 diminishes in size later. Accord- 

 ing to Mr. Cheshire, this gland 

 secretes a nitrogenous fluid which 

 is furnished to all the larvae in 

 their early stages, but is sup- 

 plied to the future queen during 

 the whole of the feeding period, 

 and also during the period of 

 egg-laying ; this secretion was 

 formerly termed "royal jelly." 

 In addition to this pair of 

 glands, there are in the worker 

 three other gland systems. Of 

 these, the second and third 

 pairs have a common central 

 outlet on the njentum, and secrete 

 the saliva which is plentifully 

 mixed with the nectar during 

 suction. The fourth pair is 



small, and the ducts open just within the mandible. The last three 



pairs of glands are found also in drone and queen. 



The method of feeding in the bee differs considerably in 

 the three types. In the worker, the honey sucked up from 

 flowers is mixed with saliva, passes down the gullet into the 

 crop, thence by the opening of the " stomach mouth " it 



m.t 



Fig. 132. — Food canal of bee. — In 

 part after Cheshire. 



mjc., Maxilla; a., antenna; e., eye; s.g., 

 salivary glands; on., oesophagus; h.s. , 

 honey sac ; s. , stopper ; cs. , chylific 

 stomach; m.t., Malpighian tubules; 

 s.i., small intestine; Li., large intestine; 

 st., sting. 



