34 
BRITISH BEES. 
pubescence, which enables the bee to gather up the nectar 
it laps. That it should be called the lip seems an ab¬ 
surdity, for it exercises all the functions of a tongue, and 
Fig. 8.—Extremes of structure of tongues: 1, in subnormal bees {Col¬ 
let es) ; 2, in normal bees {Antliophora). a, tongue; b, paraglossae ; c, 
labial palpi; d, maxillae; e, maxillary palpi; f labium. 
it would seem almost that the fine hairs, with which it 
is covered, are the papillae of taste. Its structure in 
some genera seems to be a spiral thread twining closely 
round and round, but in others it appears throughout 
identical. 
This tongue was formerly thought to be tubular, and 
that the bee sucked the honey through an aperture at 
its apex. The knowledge of the flat form of the tongues 
of other bees should have dissipated the illusion, for we 
could have been perfectly sure of the analogical struc¬ 
ture and function of an organ in creatures so nearly 
alike. Reaumur^s patient observations have totally 
dissipated the mistake, and through him we exactly 
know how the bee conveys the honey into its stomach 
