204 BEES AND BEE-KEEPING. 



the top of the finger the termination of the organ, 

 o, while the hand will be equivalent to the abdomen. 

 If we blow violently into the glove, the finger will 

 be extruded. But, to complete the illustration, the 

 top of the finger should have an aperture similar to 

 that at o, by which the spermatozoa composing the 

 spermatophore enter the bean. Repeating our experi- 

 ment, the glove finger is not only extruded, but, as 

 the extrusion is completed, the paste will be forcibly 

 driven from its end. 



The drone is very blunt at the termination of the 

 abdomen, which turns somewhat under, so that the 

 orifice is inferior. By well-regulated finger pressure 

 upon the internal organs, commencing from the 

 thorax, as previously mentioned, the orifice becomes 

 more external, and, rolling out its internal wall, we 

 first bring into view a greyish-brown, rounded part, 

 the thickly-set, short spines, with curved points, 

 covering it, clearly indicating its purpose. This is the 

 " masque" of Reaumur (m , E), which is simply the 

 side view of which m, A, is the front. The pneumo- 

 physes {ti) now present themselves, unroll, fill out with 

 air, in bubbles, as represented, and take up a position 

 {h') in advance of the "masque." The process con- 

 tinues as the pressure is increased, the fan-shaped 

 appendage (/') now, like the last, turning absolutely, 

 so that that which was the inside becomes the outside ; 

 and here, in nineteen cases out of twenty, the extra- 

 vasation ceases. But in coition it is continued until 

 the bean has become external to the drone, so that 

 the spermatophore is lodged in the common oviduct 

 {co.d, Fig. 42) of the queen. Let us now endeavour 



