276 The Tongue of the Honey Bee. | April, 
and palpi, even to the mouth, which clearly reveals the path of 
the liquid. These conduits are much the larger approach to the 
pharynx; thus we see why bees take honey so fast when they 
can get freely at a large quantity, and why a few days of good 
basswood harvest are so fruitful. 
Bees as surely take honey through the triangular rod which is 
enclosed within the sheath. I have proved this in several ways‘as 
follows: 
I have placed honey in fine glass tubes and behind fine wire 
gauze, so that the bees could just reach it with the funnel at the 
end of the rod. So long as they could reach it with the funnel 
so long would it disappear. I have held the bee in my hand, by 
grasping the wings, while observing it with a good lens. I would 
gradually withdraw it from the drop of honey, which it would sip 
so long as the drop was within reach of the funnel. I have in 
such cases seen the red axis when the bee was sipping colored 
syrup. Subsequent examination by dissection revealed the red 
liquid still in the tube of the rod, clearly showing its course in 
passing to the pharynx. If we place the tongue with a drop of 
water on a glass slide and cover with a thin glass, and then look 
at it through the compound microscope, with a magnifying power 
of eighty diameters, we can readily see the liquid pass back and 
forth in the tube as we press with a pencil on the thin glass cover. 
s Mr. Chambers states, this tube at the base of the funnel is 
only one five-hundredth of an inch in diameter. We now under- 
stand why bees are so long in loading their stomachs when 
gathering from small tubular flowers, as then this minute tube is 
the only avenue by which the bee secures the nectar. We can 
also well understand why they gather so much faster from some 
flowers than from others. In the one case they secure the liquid 
sweet through both the channels above described, in the other, 
when the honey is scarce or deep down in small tubular flowers, 
they can only use this microscopic tube. 
We also note the admirable construction of the tongue, which 
permits it to probe these tiny flowers, and also see the advantage 
of even a little additional length in this important and wonderful 
organ. ; 
I also believe that bees lap up the honey. If we spread a thin 
layer of honey on a glass, and permit the bees to visit it, we 
shall see the bees wipe it up with their ligule. Fine drops dis- 
