BRITISH HIVE- BEE. 299 



may reach the true stomach and so be digested, or may be 

 carried in the crop to the hive, and there emptied into the 

 cells by regurgitation. The pollen, which is frequently 

 mixed with the honey, is separated from the latter by means 

 of the stomach mouth, and is digested. Before impregna- 

 tion, the queen, like the worker, feeds on pollen and honey ; 

 after it, she is always fed by the attendant workers. The 

 drones, like the young workers, avail themselves of the 

 general food-supply of the colony, and do not themselves 

 collect honey. 



Other systems. — The respiratory system is represented 

 by the ramifying tracheal tubes. They open to the exterior 

 by the lateral spiracles, which can be completely closed. In 

 connection with the tracheae there are large air-sacs. 



The circulatory system is in essentials the same as that 

 of the cockroach. The blood contains a few nucleated 

 amoeboid corpuscles. 



The excretory system consists of numerous fine Mal- 

 pighian tubules which open into the small intestine. 



Reproductive system. — In the drone the reproductive 

 organs consist of a pair of testes, each furnished with a 

 narrow vas deferens, expanding at its distal end into a 

 seminal vesicle. The seminal vesicles open into the ejacu- 

 latory duct, and at their junction a large paired mucus gland 

 opens. When maturity is reached, the testes diminish in 

 size, while the spermatozoa accumulate in the terminal 

 expanded part of the ejaculatory duct, and there become 

 aggregated into a compact spermatophore. With the ter- 

 minal portion of the male duct copulatory organs are 

 associated. 



Mating takes place only once in the life of the queen, 

 and is followed by the death of the drone. 



In the queen the large ovaries occupy considerable space in the ab- 

 dominal region. As usual, each consists of numerous (100-150) ovarian 

 tubes, containing ova in various stages of development. The ovarian 

 tubes open into the right and left oviducts, which again unite to form 

 the common oviduct. With the anterior portion of the common duct 

 the globular spermatheca is associated. In connection with it there is 

 a gland corresponding to the mucus gland of the male. The oviduct 

 terminates in a copulatory pouch. 



Previous to laying, the eggs are fertilised by sperms set free from the 

 spermatheca. In the case of drone eggs, this liberation of spermatozoa 



