CHAPTER XIV, 



THE ABDOMEN. 



Respiratory Organs — Circulation of Nutritive Fluid — Digestion and 

 Nutrition — Secretion of Wax — Reproductive Organs — Detailed 

 description of Sting — Effects of Poison — Queen's Sting. 



The abdomen constitutes the largest and hindmost 

 segment of the body, and is important as containing 

 several structures which have most' essential functions 

 in the economy of the insect. Among these are the 

 chief parts of the respiratory apparatus, the diges- 

 tive, the wax-making, the reproductive, and stinging 

 organs. 



First, it must 'be noted that the bee has nothing 

 strictly analogous to our lungs, heart, liver, and other 

 structures making up a true circulating-system. At 

 the same time there is a real oxygenation of the 

 fluids of the body, with a consequent evolution of 

 heat, water, and carbonic acid gas. 



The breathing apparatus has not its aperture for 

 inspiration and expiration situated in the head, as is 

 the case in the higher animals ; but air is admitted 

 and expelled through apertures along both sides of 

 the body. In the thorax are two pairs of such 

 openings, and there is a pair on each ring of the 



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