272 The Tongue of the Honey Bee. [ April, 
curacy. The most learned scientists, those usually the most care- 
ful and accurate, like Reaumur, Newport and Carpenter, give 
voice to palpable errors. Even the last edition of the Encyclo- 
_ pedia Britannica gives further life to these old erroneous views. 
Let us give brief attention to some of these descriptions. 
Hogg says the bee’s tongue is cylindrical; Kirby, Spence and 
Neighbour state that it is flat; Reaumur and Chambers that it is 
between the two. Reaumur, Newport, Kirby, Spence, Carpenter, 
Shuckard, Bevan and Hunter all state that the tongue is solid, and 
that the honey is se sting up, or taken through a tube, formed by 
the close approximation of the 
maxillz, labium, and labial pal- 
pi. Newport speaks of a hairy 
sheath along the under side 
of the basal two-thirds of the 
organ. Neighbour says there 
is a gutter throughout the en- 
tire length of the tongue, 
while Swammerdam, La- 
marck, Burmeister, Wildman 
and Munn claim that the or- 
gan is tubular, Newport and 
Carpenter assert that the bee’s 
tongue is muscular, which is 
denied by Cuvier, Reaumur 
and Chambers. 
That bees lap the nectar is 
affirmed by Reaumur, New- 
port, Kirby and Spence, Sa- 
vigny, Carpenter, Bevan and 
Hunter ; while Swammerdam, 
Wildman, Lamarck, Burmeis- 
Ài ter, Munn and Neighbour 
Fic. nafoogiea of the Bee. claim that the bees take 
liquids by suction. 
Amid these conflicting views let us see if we may find the 
truth. To do this we must examine closely the structure of the 
organ, and also watch the insect as it is ere its fill of honey or 
some other liquid. 
In the April number of the Journal of the Cincinnati Society 
