TONGUE AND MOUTH PARTS. 99 



experiment upon the central duct, for which stained 

 glycerine or honey may be used instead of oil, 

 although the latter is to be preferred. Let me ex- 

 plain, then, how distended pouches may be obtained 

 without sacrificing any brood. I reflected that blood 

 might artificially be driven into the pouch ; and, taking 

 a recently dead worker, pinched the thorax between 

 thumb and finger from behind forwards ; instantly 

 the pouch filled out, returning into position as the 

 pressure was relaxed. In nine cases out of ten, this 

 experiment with workers succeeds ; with queens it is 

 difficult, on account of the extreme hardness of the 

 thoracic plates. 



The queen's tongue is not only short, but the cen- 

 tral and side ducts are not drawn out to the delicate 

 terminations we find in the worker, exactly as we 

 should have expected, since she has not to lap 

 minute quantities of nectar from the bottoms of blos- 

 som cups, but simply to take food from cells, or, 

 more commonly, from the tongues of her attendants. 

 As is also clearly necessary, the feeling hairs in 

 her case are far more developed than in that of 

 the worker, enabling her to determine in the dark- 

 ness of the hive the exact point of the feeding bee's 

 body that she is approaching. The drone's tongue, 

 in like manner, is short, but is not highly sensitive. 



All observant bee-keepers must have noticed that 

 the long and lithe tongue of their little assistants 

 disappears in a most astonishing fashion when no 

 longer required. Fig. 19 will make clear the method 

 of its folding. At B we see it extended. It is 

 retracted by partly withdrawing it into the mentum, 



