GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 
35 
As it exhibits an agreeable instance of the persevering 
industry and unblenching patience with which he made 
his researches, I will give a summary of what he says, 
for his bulky volumes, although teeming with delightful 
instruction, pleasantly narrated, will necessarily not be 
in every entomologists hand, and where not, not even 
always readily accessible. His observations were made 
upon the honey-bee, but we may attribute the same 
mode of collecting to all the rest. He says :—When 
this tongue is not lapping the nectar of flowers but in a 
state of perfect repose it is flattened. It is then af 
least three times broader than thick, but its edges are 
rounded. It gradually narrows from its base to its ex¬ 
tremity. It terminates in a slight inflation, almost 
cylindrical, at the end of which there is a little knob, 
which appears perforated in the centre. From the cir¬ 
cumference of this knob tolerably long hairs radiate, 
and the upper side of the tongue is also entirely covered 
with hairs. The basal and widest portion above seems 
striated transversely with minute lines closely approach¬ 
ing each other. 
The upper side of the anterior portion of the tongue 
seems of a cartilaginous substance, but the under side of 
the same part appears cartilaginous only over a portion 
of its width. The centre is throughout its whole course 
more transparent than the rest, and seems membranous 
and folded. It is only necessary to press the posterior 
portion of this trunk, whilst holding its anterior part 
closely to a light, towards which its upper surface must 
be turned, and then upon examining its inner surface with 
a lens of high power, a drop of liquid may be soon ob¬ 
served at its foremost portion. By continuing to press 
it this drop is urged forward, and as it passes every 
d 2 
