Mr. Hunter’s Observations on Bees. 179 
longer than any of the before-mentioned lateral portions; and 
is not horny, as the other parts are, but what may be called 
fleshy, being soft and pliable. It is composed of short sec- 
tions, whifch probably are so many short muscles, as in fish ; 
for they are capable of moving it in all directions. The tongue 
itself is extremely villous, having some very long villi at the 
point, which act, I conceive, somewhat like capillary tubes. 
This whole apparatus can be folded up, into a very small 
compass, under the head and neck. The larynx falls back 
into the neck, which brings the extreme end of the first por- 
tion of the tongue within the upper lip, or behind the two 
teeth ; then the whole of the second part, which consists 
of five parts, is bent down upon and under this first part, 
and the two last scales are also bent down over the whole ; 
so that the true tongue is inclosed laterally by the two second 
horny scales, and over the whole lie the two first. 
The oesophagus, in all of this tribe of insects, begins just 
at the root of the tongue, as in other animals, covered ante- 
riorly by a horny scale, which terminates the head, and which 
may be called the upper lip, or the roof of the mouth. It 
passes down through the neck and thorax, and when got into 
the abdomen, it immediately dilates into a fine transparent 
bag, which is the immediate receiver of whatever is swallowed. 
From this the food (whatever it be) is either carried further on 
into the stomach, to be digested, or is regurgitated for other 
purposes. To ascertain this in some degree, in living bees, I 
caught them going out early in the morning, and found this 
bag quite empty: some time after I caught others returning 
home, and found the bag quite full of honey, and some of it had 
Aa 2 
