ANATOMY OF THE BEE. 
37 
(Fig. 2, A, Lm ) forming an upper lip 
called the labrum. On its under surface is 
a small soft lobe called the epipharynx on 
which are located the organs of taste. At 
the sides of the labrum are the two heavy 
jaws, or mandibles (Md) , which work side- 
wise. They are spoon-shaped at their ends 
in the worker, but sharp-pointed and tooth¬ 
ed in the queen and drone. Those of the 
queen are largest, those of the drone small¬ 
est. Behind the labrum and the mandibles 
is a bunch of long appendages, usually 
folded back beneath the head, which to¬ 
gether constitute the proboscis (Fig. 2, A, 
Prb.) These organs correspond with the 
second pair of jaws, or maxillae , and the 
lower lip, or labium, of other insects. In 
Fig. 2 they are cut off a short distance from 
the head and flattened out in Fig. 3, D. The 
middle series of pieces ( Smt-Lbl ) consti¬ 
tutes the labium, the two lateral series 
( Cd-Mx ) the maxillae. The labium consists 
of a basal submentum ( Smt ), and a men- 
tum (Ml) . which supports distally the slen¬ 
der, flexible, tongue-like glossa (Gls) , the 
two delicate paraglossae (Pgl ), and the 
two lateral, jointed labial palpi (Lb, Pip). 
Each maxilla is composed of a basal stalk, 
the car do ( Cd) ; a main plate, the stipes 
(St), and a wide terminal blade (Mx) 
called the galea. At the base of the galea 
is a rudimentary maxillary palpus (M.r- 
Plp) , representing a part which in most 
insects consists of several slender joints. 
As before stated, the part of the maxil¬ 
lae and the labium together constitute the 
proboscis, which, as shown in Fig. 2, is 
suspended from a deep cavity ( PrbFs) on 
the lower part of the back of the head hav¬ 
ing a membranous floor. The nasal stalks 
(Cd) of the maxillae are hinged to knobs 
on the sides of this cavity, while the labium 
is attached to the maxillary stalks by means 
of a flexible band called the lorum (Fig. 3, 
D, Lr). 
When the bee wishes to suck up any 
liquid, especially a thick liquid like honey 
or syrup, provided in considerable quan¬ 
tity, the terminal lobes of the labium and 
maxillae are pressed close together so as to 
make a tube between them. The labium is 
then moved back and forth between the 
maxillae with a pump-like motion produced 
by muscles within the head.. This brings 
the liquid up to the mouth, which is situ¬ 
ated above the base of the proboscis, be¬ 
tween the mandibles and beneath the lab¬ 
rum. The food is then taken into the 
mouth by a sucking action of the pharynx, 
produced by its muscles. 
A more delicate apparatus is probably 
necessary, however, for sucking up minute 
drops of nectar from the bottom of a 
flower. Such a structure is provided within 
the glossa. This organ (Fig. 3, D, Gls), 
ordinarily called the “tongue/’ is termin¬ 
ated by a delicate, sensitive, spoonlike lobe 
known as the labella (Fig. 3, A, B, and D, 
Lbl), and has a groove (Jc) running along 
its entire length on the ventral side. With¬ 
in the glossa this groove expands into a 
double-barrel tube (Fig. 3, E. Lum.) A 
flexible chitinous rod (r) lies along the 
dorsal wall of this channel, which is itself 
provided with a still finer groove (l) along 
its ventral surface. Thus the very smallest 
quantity of nectar may find a channel suit¬ 
ed to its bulk thru which it may run up to 
the base of the glossa by capillary attrac¬ 
tion. But since the glossal channels are 
ventral, the nectar must be transferred to 
the dorsal side of the labium by means of 
the paraglossa3, the two soft lobes (Fig. 3), 
D and F, Pgl) whose bases are on the up¬ 
per side of the mentum, but whose distal 
ends underlap the base of the glossa, and 
thus aflxml conduits for the nectar around 
the latter to the upper side of the labium. 
The glossa is highly extensible and retrac¬ 
tile by means of muscles attached to the 
base of the rod, and its movements when a 
bee is feeding are very conspicuous, and 
interesting to watch. 
The thorax of an insect carries the wings 
and the legs. The two wings of the bees on 
each side are united to each other by a 
series of minute hooks so that they work 
together, and the four wings are thus prac¬ 
tically converted into two. Each wing is 
hinged at its base to the back, and pivoted 
from below upon a small knob of the side 
wall of the thoi'ax. The up-and-down mo¬ 
tion of the wings is produced, not by mus¬ 
cles attached to their bases, but by two sets 
of enormous muscles, one vertical and the 
other horizontal, attached to the walls of 
the thorax, whose contractions elevate and 
depress the back plates of the thorax. 
Since the fulcrum of each wing is outside 
of its attachment to the back, the depres- 
