92 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



hollowed out, and fitting against the side of the 

 mentum, which it partially embraces with very stiff 

 hairs, so that they hold it in position. The maxillae 

 have feelers or palpi {mxp, Plate II.), which appear 

 in the hive bee to be aborted and functionless, 

 although in the Andrenidae they are usually well- 

 developed. Not far below the feeler, the maxilla, 

 like the labial palpus, has a hinge, separating the 

 higher, tougher part (the stipe) from the lower, 

 more delicate, and transparent portion forming the 

 lacinia, or blade. The sections C, D, E (Plate III.) 

 show that the maxillae and labial palpi normally em- 

 brace the tongue before and behind respectively, so 

 that together they may form a tube, within which 

 the tongue is placed. If we now remember that the 

 tongue can be drawn back in part into the mentum, 

 while the embracing parts cannot, we see at once 

 that the tongue has the ability to move up and down 

 within the formed tube; and again, that as the maxillae 

 are attached to the lora, the maxillae may move back- 

 wards and forwards upon the labial palpi. 



With the outline before us of the main parts of 

 this complex structure, let us endeavour to under- 

 stand the methods of its action, and the purposes 

 to which it has been adapted. First, How are large 

 quantities of honey taken ? The ligula, when ex- 

 amined by a low power, is found to be covered by 

 a sheath [sh, B and G, Plate III.), densely clothed 

 with hairs, regularly arranged, in the worker, in from 

 90 to 100 transverse rows, of which the queen and 

 drone only possess from sixty to sixty-five. These 

 hairs, most symmetrically placed, and passing through 



