26 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



be kept up without fatigue. It is well known that the more 

 rapid the vibrations, the higher the pitch. 



62. DicESTiNii Appakaths. — The honey obtained from 

 the blossoms, after mixing with the saliva (41), and passing 

 through the mouth and the ossophagus, is conveyed into the 

 honey-sack. 



63. This organ, located in the abdomen, is not larger than 

 a very small pea, and so perfectly transparent as to appear, 

 when flUed, of the same color as its contents ; it Is prop- 

 erly the first stomach, and is surrounded by muscles which 



enable the bee to compress 

 it, and empty its contents 

 through her proboscis into 

 the cells. She can also, 

 at will, keep a supply, to 

 be digested, at leisure, 

 when leaving with a 

 swarm, (418), or while 

 in the cluster during the 

 cold of winter (620), and 

 use it only as fast as nec- 

 essary. For this purpose, 

 the honey-sack is supplied 

 at its lower extremity, in- 

 side, with a round ball, 

 which Burmeister has 

 called the stomacli-mouth, 

 and which has been beau- 

 tifully described by Schie- 

 menz (1883). It opens 

 by a complex valve and 

 connects the honey-sack 

 with the digesting-stomach, through a tube or canal, pro- 

 jecting inside the latter. This canal is lined with hairs point- 

 ing downward, which prevent the solid food, such as pollen 



Fig. 13. 



DIGESTIN'G APPARATUS. 



(^lagnifled . From Maurice Girard . ) 



u, tongue; b, a38ophagu8; r, honey-sack; 



d, stomach; f, malpighiau tubes;/, small 



intestine; (/, large intestine. 



