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working bee has nothing to take off its attention to the bufinefs of the family. They are fmaller than either the queen or the males: not all of equal fize, although the difference is not very great.

The queen and the working bees are fo much alike, that the latter would feem to be females on a different fcale: however, this difference is not fo obfervable in the beginning of winter as in the fpring, when the queen is full of eggs. They are all females in conflruction, having the female parts, which are extremely fmall, and would be eafily overlooked by a perfon not very well acquainted with the parts in the queen: this has been obferved by Mr. Riem; indeed, one might fuppofe that they were only young queens, and that they became queens after a certain age; but this is not the cafe. They all have ftings, which is another thing that makes them fimilar to the queen. From their being furnished with an inftrument of defence and offence, they are endowed with fuch powers of mind as to use it, their minds being extremely irritable; so much fo, that they make an attack when not meddled with, fimply upon fufpicion, and when they do attack, they always fting; and yet, from the circumitance of their not being able to disengage the fting, one fhould fuppofe they would be more cautious in ftriking with it. When they attack one another, they feldom ufe it, only their pincers: yet I faw two bees engaged, and one ftung the other in the mouth, or thereabouts, and the fting was drawn from the body to which it belonged, and the one who was stung ran very quickly about with it; but I could not catch that bee, to observe how the fting was fituated.

As they are the collectors of honey, much more than what is for their own ufe, either immediately, or in future, their tongue is proportionably fitted for that purpose: it is confiderably longer than that of either the queen or the male, which fits them to take

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ANIMALS who only fwallow food for themselves, or whofe alimentary organs are fitted wholly for their own nourishment,, have them adapted to that ufe only; but in many, these organs are common for more purposes, as in the pigeon, and likewife in the bee. In this laft, fome of the parts are ufed as a temporary refervoir, holding both that which is for the immediate nourishment of the animal, and alfo that which is to be preferved for a future day, in the cells formerly defcribed; this lait portion is there fore thrown up again, or regurgitated. As it is the labourers alone in the common bee that are fo employed, we might conceive this refervoir would belong only to them; but both the queen and males, both in the common and humble bee, have it, as alfo, I believe, every one of the bee tribe.

As the bee is a remarkable inftance of regurgitation, it is necessary the ftructure of the parts concerned in this operation, and which are alfo connected with digeftion, should be well confidered. Ruminating animals may be reckoned regurgitating animals, but in them it is for the purpofe of feeding their young. Crows fill their fauces, making a kind of craw, out

of which they throw back the food when they feed their young: but the most remarkable is the dove tribe, who first fill their craw, and then throw it up into the beak of their young. The bee has this power to a remarkable degree, not, however, for the purpose of feeding the young, but it is the mode of depofiting their ftore, when brought home.

In none of the above-mentioned regurgitating animals are the refervoirs containing the food, the immediate organ of digeftion; nor does the refervoir for the honey in the bee appear to be its ftomach.

The tongue of the bee is the first of the alimentary organs to be confidered: it is of a peculiar ftructure, and is probably the largeft tongue of any animal we know, for its fize. It may be faid to confift of three parts refpecting its length, having three articulations. One, its articulation with the head, which is in fome meafure similar to our larynx. Then comes the body of the tongue, which is compofed of two parts; one, a kind of bafe, on which the other, or true tongue, is articulated. This firft part is principally a horny fubitance, in which there is a groove, and it is articulated with the firft, or larynx; on the end of this is fixed the true tongue, with its different parts. These two parts of the tongue are as it were inclofed laterally, by two horny fcales, one on each fide, which are concave on that fide next to the tongue; one edge is thicker than the other, and they do not extend fo far as the other parts. Each of these fcales is compofed of two parts, or scales, refpecting its length, one articulated with the other: the first of those scales is articulated with the common base, or larynx, at the articulation of the firft part of the tongue, and inclofes laterally the fecond part of the tongue, coming as far forward as the third articu ation: on the end of this is articulated the fecond fcale, which continues the hollow groove that inclofes the tongue laterally; this terminates

in a point. Thefe fcales have fome hairs on their edge.

On the termination of the fecond part, is placed' the true tongue, having two lateral portions or proceffes, on each fide, one within the other; the external is the largeft, and is fomewhat fimilar to the before-mentioned fcales. This is compofed of four parts, or rather of one large part,' on which three smaller are articulated, having motion on themselves. The first, on which the others ftand, is ar ticulated at the edges of the tongue, on the bafis, or termination of the last described part of the tongue: this has hairs on its edge.

A little further forward on the edges of the tongue are two fmall thin proceffes, fo fmall as hardly to be feen with the naked eye. The middle part of all, of which thefe lateral parts are only appendages, is the true tongue. It is fomething longer than any of the before-mentioned lateral portions; and is not horny, as the other parts are, but what may be called fiefhy, being foft and pliable. It is compofed of fhort fections, which probably are fo many fhort mufcles, as in fish; for they are capable of moving it in all directions. The tongue itself is extremely villous, having fome very long villi at the point, which a&, I conceive, fomewhat like capillary tubes.

This whole apparatus can be folded up, into a very small compass, under the head and neck. The larynx falls back into the neck, which brings the extreme end of the first portion of the tongue within the upper lip, or behind the two teeth; then the whole of the fecond part, which confists of five parts, is bent down upon and under this first part, and the two last fcales are also bent down over the whole; fo that the true tongue is inclofed laterally by the two fecond. horny fcales, and over the whole lie the two first.

The cefophagus, in all of this tribe of infects, begins juft at the root of the tongue, as in other animals, co

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vered anteriorly by a horny fcale, which terminates the head, and which may be called the upper lip, or the roof of the mouth. It paffes down through the neck and thorax, and when got into the abdomen, it immediately dilates into a fine transparent bag, which is the immediate receiver of whate. er is fw llowed. From this the food (whatever it be) is either carried further on into the ftomach, to be digested, or is regurgitated for other purposes. To alcertain this in fame degree, in living bees, I caught them going out early in the morning, and found this bag quite empty: fome time after I caught others returning home, and found the bag quite full of honey, and fome of it had got into the ftomach. Now I fuppofe that which was in the craw, was for the purpose of regurgitation, and as probably they had fa ed during the night, part had gone on further for digeftion. Whatever time the contents of this refervoir may be retained, we never find them altered, fo as to give the idea of digellion having taken place : it is pure honey. From this bag the contents can be moved either way; either downward to the ftomach, for the immediate ufe of the animal itself; or back again, to be thrown out as ftore for future aliment.

The ftomach arifes from the lower end, and a little on the right fide, of this bag. It does not gradually contraft into a ftomach, nor is the outlet a paffage directly out, but in the centre of a projection which enters fome way into the refervoir, being rather an inverted pylorus, thicket at its mo projecting part, with a very fmall opening in the centre, of a peculiar conftruction. This inward projecting part is eafily feen through the coats of the refervoir, efpecially if full of honey.

The ftomach begins immediately on the outfide of the refervoir, and the fame part which projects into the refervoir, is continued fome way into the ftomach, but appears to have no particular conftruction at this end;

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and therefore it is only fitted to prevent regurgitation into the refervoir, as fuch would fpoil the honey. This conftruction of parts is well adapted for the purpofe; for the end projecting into the refervoir, prevents any honey from getting into the ftomach, because it acts there as a valve; there fore whatever is taken in, must be by an action of this vafcular part, The ftomach has a good deal the appearance of a gut, efpecially as it feems to come out from a bag. It paffes almoft directly downward in the middle of the abdomen. Its inner furface is very much increased, by having either circular valves, fomewhat like the valvulæ conniventes in the human jejunum, or fpiral folds, as in the inteftine of the fhark, &c, thefe may be feen through the external coats. In this part the food undergoes the change. Where the fto mach terminates, is not exactly to be afcertained; but it foon begins to throw itself into convolutions, and become fmaller.

The inteftine makes two or three twifts upon itself, in which part it is enveloped in the ducts, conftituting the liver, and probably the pancreas, and at laft paffes on ftraight to the termination of the abdomen, Here it is capable of becoming very large, to ferve upon occafion as a reservoir, containing a large quantity of excrement: it then contracts a little, and opens under the posterior edge of the laft fcale of the back, above the fting in the female and labourers, and the penis in the male.

Of the Senfes of Bees,

BEES certainly have the five fenfes, Sight none can doubt. Feeling they alfo have; and there is every reafon for fuppofing they have likewife taste, fmell, and hearing. Taste we cannot doubt: but of fmell we may not have fuch proofs: yet, from obfervation, I think they give strong figns of smell. When bees are hungry, as a young fwarm in wet weather, and are in a glafs hive, fo that they can be exa

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