1881.] Exdocranium and Maxillary Suspensorium of the Bee. 357 
wards so as to form a channel for the pharynx (Fig. 6, Ec). Its 
perforation is not as in the axis of a cross, but forwards, as if the 
webbing had ceased at this part. Its correspondence with the 
parts already described in other insects is easily shown. In the 
locust the lateral pillars approach more closely, so as to resemble 
the letter X, but the foramen and other parts are much as in the 
cockroach. 7 
The Coleoptera appear to want this system. But in following 
out the relations of the parts I came to a view which, if correct, 
would explain the anomaly, and which I shall reserve for a later 
part of this paper. 
B. Maxillary suspensorium.—It is convenient to examine to- 
gether the proximal adjustments of both maxilla and labium (or 
first and second maxillz, as they may be called), These are inti- 
mately connected in their mode of attachment in all insects pos- 
sessed of such parts. In the case of the bee they are strung 
upon a long framework with elbows and hinges, which is able to 
thrust them out and to draw them in. Of this framework, which 
we shall call the “ maxillary suspensorium,” we have not been 
able to find any satisfactory description or figure. Schmarda’s 
Zoology gives a correct figure of its distal part; but neither 
Schmarda nor Westwood nor Réaumur appears to have traced 
_ the structure to its origin. The prize work on the “ Anatomy 
and Physiology of the Bee,” by M. Girdwoyn, published by 
Rothschild, of Paris, is grossly inaccurate at this part. We shall 
begin its description from its base, where it is inserted close to 
the inferior insertion of the mesocephalic pillars, immediately in 
front of the foramen magnum. 
At this point there are, below the mesocephalic pillars, two 
basi-cranial rods, running forwards towards the oral opening 
(slightly ascending forwards when the mouth parts are retracted, 
but nearly horizontal when they are protruded). These basi- 
cranial rods arise similarly with the mesocephalic pillars ; but 
they are united to the sides of an excavated opening in the basis 
cranii by a thin web, just as the mesocephalic pillars are joined 
to the side-wall in Cicada. They are not hinged at their root, 
but are firmly fixed and widen out here, and are slightly pliant, — 
whilst their motion is limited by the web which binds them to 
the basi-cranial wall (Fig. 5, Br). (An engineering friend to 
whom we showed this structure, informed us that it involves the 
