GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 
39 
honey upon the tongue of this bee at a spot where it 
could be covered bv the extremities of the external 
«/ 
sheath. I then let these sheaths loose. Sometimes they 
spontaneously resumed their previous position, and 
sometimes I assisted them to resume it. The drop of 
honey which they then covered has in no instance re¬ 
turned to the extremity of the tongue; it has always 
passed towards the mouth, and doubtless entered that 
orifice itself. It is therefore very certain that the bee 
imbibes its honey by lapping, and that it never passes 
through the aperture which has been supposed to have 
been seen at the extreme apex of the tongue. Did this 
aperture really exist, it would be of extreme minuteness, 
and it did not appear to me possible that a large drop 
of honey, which I have seen imbibed in a very few 
instants, could in so short a time have passed by so 
minute an opening. A further confirmation of the non¬ 
existence of this orifice has been given me when, by 
pressing a tongue towards its origin to compel it to 
swell, I have detected the liquid which Andvenidse. 
gave it its extension, but all my press¬ 
ing would never make the liquid pass 
through the extremity, although the 
pressure has sometimes made it almost 
rend the membranes, to give it an open¬ 
ing to escape by. Having thus passed 
through the oesophagus into the stomach, 
it is then regurgitated into its requisite 
repository upon arriving at home. . 
1 . . m repose. 1. In 
The entire proboscis, with all its appen- abnormal bee. 2 . 
dages attached, has m the ApidcB thiec dis- point of articulation 
tinct hinges or articulations, including that 
which attaches it by its extreme base to of the tongue. 
Apidse. 
Fig. 9.—Mode of 
folding the tongue 
