The Life of the Individual 
113 
glands. Cook 1 and Cowan 2 both adhere to this view. The 
alimentary canal of the worker (Fig. 60), posterior to the 
pharynx, narrows to a slender oesophagus {(E) extending 
through the thorax. In the abdomen, this is enlarged into 
a thin-walled sac known in the honeybee as the honey- 
stomach {HS, crop of other insects), since it is used to 
carry nectar to the hive. At the 
posterior end this merges with the 
proventriculus, with heavy muscular 
walls, which contains a valvular ap¬ 
paratus (Fig. 61). Behind this is 
the stomach or ventriculus {Vent). 
Schonfeld claims that the brood 
food, especially that of the queen 
(royal jelly), is regurgitated from 
the ventriculus. The experiments 
of Schonfeld seem to show that 
the valve in the proventriculus opens 
and moves anteriorly even to the 
oesophagus when this is done, but 
Snodgrass 3 claims that this cannot 
be done without tearing the mus¬ 
cles of the proventriculus. Cowan 
and other authors figure this action 
in a diagram, but with no evidence 
from observation. Schonfeld and 
Cook fed charcoal in honey and 
found this in the brood food which would, in their esti¬ 
mation, be impossible if the food is of glandular origin, but 
they overlooked the fact that the charcoal might get into 
the brood food from the mouth of the worker. The char¬ 
coal could not pass through the walls of the ventriculus in 
1 Cook, A. J., 1904. The beekeeper’s guide or manual of the apiary. 
18th ed., Chicago. 
2 Cowan, T. W., 1904. The honey bee, 2d. ed., London. 
•Snodgrass, It. L., 1910. The anatomy of the honey bee. Tech. 
Series, 18, Bureau of Entomology, pp. 162. 
Fig. 61. — Longitudinal me¬ 
dian section of base of 
oesophagus. 
