ANATOMY OF THE BEE 
gen. Observations made by tlie writer indi¬ 
cate that the pollen is not digested until it 
gets into the intestine, for masses of fresh¬ 
looking grains nearly always appear in the 
rear part of the ventriculus, which is other¬ 
wise filled with a brownish slime. On the 
other hand, the nectar and honey are very 
probably digested in the ventriculus, and 
in large part absorbed from it. 
The salivary glands, located in the back 
part of the head (Fig. 6, 2GI) and in the 
front part of the thorax ( 3GI ) open upon 
the upper part of the labium (Fig. 3, F, 
SalDo ). The saliva can thus affect the liq¬ 
uid food before the latter enters the mouth, 
or it can be allowed to run down the pro- 
(UDpli and VDph ), stretching across the 
dorsal and ventral walls of the abdomen, 
but leaving wide openings along their sidas 
between the points of attachment. The 
heart consists of four consecutive chambers 
lht-4ht, which are merely swellings of 
the tube, each having a vertical slit or 
ostium ( Ost ) opening into each side. The 
blood is the colorless liquid that fills the 
spaces about the viscera of the body cavity. 
The dorsal diaphragm and the heart pulsate 
forward. The blood in the cavity above 
the former enters the ostia of the heart, and 
is pumped forward thru the aorta and out 
into the cavity of the head. From here it 
percolates back thru the thorax and enters 
From Bulletin No. 18, “The Anatomy of the Honeybee,” by Snodgrass, Dept, of Ay., Washington, D. C. 
Fig. 5.— Left side of sting and its accessory plates, with alkaline gland (BGI) and base of poison-sac 
( I’snSc ) attached. BGI, alkaline-poison gland; Let, lancet: Ob. oblong plate; PttnSc, base of poison-sac 
holding secretion from acid-gland (see Fig. 8); Qd, quadrate plate; IXS. median part of ninth abdominal 
sternum; ShA, arm of sheath; Sh-B, bulb of sheath; ShS, shaft of sheath; StnPlp, palpus of sting; Tri, 
triangular plate. 
boscis upon hard sugar in order to dissolve 
it, for the latter is eaten with the proboscis, 
not with the mandibles. 
The large glands ( Fig. 6, ,1GI ) situated 
in the front part of the head are supposed, 
by some students of the bee, to form the 
white pasty brood food and the royal jelly. 
Others think that these substances come 
from the stomach. More investigation of 
the subject must be made, however, before 
the question can be decided; but the con¬ 
tents of the stomachs of the workers have 
no resemblance to the brood food. 
The circulatory system is very simple, 
consisting of a delicate, tubular, pulsating 
heart (Fig. 1, lit), in the upper part of the 
abdomen, of a single long blood vessel, the 
aorta ( Ao ), extending forward from the 
heart thru the thorax into the head, and of 
two pulsating membranes, the diaphragms 
the space beneath the' ventral diaphragm 
( VDph ) of the abdomen. This membrane 
pulsates backward, and the blood is driven 
posteriorly and upward, thru the lateral 
openings, around the abdominal viscera, 
and again into the dorsal or pericardial 
cavity of the abdomen, where it begins its 
circulation anew. In insects the principal 
function of the blood is to distribute the 
food which dissolves into it from the ali¬ 
mentary canal. 
The respiratory system is very highly 
developed in the bee, consisting (Fig. 1) of 
large air-sacs ( TraSc , 1-10) in the head, 
thorax, and abdomen, and of tubes called 
tracheae given off from them, ( Tra, Lira). 
Fig. 1 shows principally the parts in only 
the right side of the body. In the abdomen 
a large sac (10) lies on each side connected 
with the exterior by short tubes opening 
