THE BEE. 51 



In SO doingj we shall have to proceed upon a dif- 

 ferent plan from that employed in making ourselves 

 acquainted with the character of the external organs 

 and members ; for whilst these were local, each having 

 its appointed place upon some special portion of the 

 body, the nervous, respiratory, circulating, and digest- 

 ive systems, will all be found to occupy a more or 

 less prominent position in each of the three sections ; 

 the reproductive organs alone being confined to the 

 abdominal segments. 



Whilst examining the oral apparatus, or mouth of 

 the Bee, we had occasion to consider and describe 

 a variety of instruments to whose action the food 

 is subjected before its admission into the body; and 

 we shall now foUow it in its course through the di- 

 gestive system, dwelling for a while upon each organ 

 through which it is obliged to pass. The nutriment 

 of the Bee is of a varied kind, being sometimes solid, 

 as the Bee-bread or pollen, and at others consisting 

 of liquid honey. In either case, it must first enter 

 the oesophagus or gullet (PI. VII. fig. 1, a), a portion 

 of the digestive system analogous to the throat in 

 the higher animals : this canal or tube traverses the 

 whole length of the thorax, and leads iuto the first 

 stomach {b), the crop, paunch, or honey -bag, as it is 

 variously denominated. 



Should the food consist of the nectar of flowers, it 

 is probable that, after being retained in the honey- 

 bag until the Bee has found its way back to the 

 hive, it will be regurgitated into the cells of the 



d2 



