TIIE HONEY-BEE. 
39 
The Abdomen, (Plate III. figs. 3, 4, 5, & 6,) 
attached to the posterior part of the thorax by a 
slender ligament like that which unites the thorax 
and the head, consists of six scaly rings of unequal 
breadth. It contains two stomachs, the small in- 
testines, the venom-bag, and the sting. An open- 
ing, placed at the root of the proboscis, is the mouth 
of the oesophagus or gullet, which traverses the 
trunk, and leads to the anterior stomach. This last 
named vessel is but a dilatation of the gullet, and in 
fact forms the. honey-bag. When full, it exhibits 
the form of a small transparent globe, somewhat less 
in size than a pea. It is susceptible of contraction, 
and so organised as to enable the Bee to disgorge its 
contents. The second stomach, which is separated 
from the first, of which it appears to be merely a 
continuation, only by a very short tube, is cylin- 
drical, and very muscular ; it is the receptacle for 
the food, which is there digested, and conveyed by 
the small intestines to all parts of the body for its 
nutriment. It receives also the honey from which 
wax is elaborated. Scales of this last mentioned 
substance are found ranged in pairs, and contained 
in minute receptacles under the lower segments of 
the abdomen. No direct channel of communication 
between the stomach and these receptacles or wax- 
pockets has yet been discovered ; but Huber con- 
jectures that the secreting vessels are contained in 
the membrane which lines these receptacles, and 
which is covered with a reticulation of hexagonal 
meshes analogous to the inner coat of the second 
stomach of ruminating quadrupeds. Plate III. Fig. 1, 
