The Bee’s Tongue


In fact, the bee’s proboscis is not a tube
at all, though it can perform the office of
one at need. A closed tube would be an
inadequate and clumsy possession to a
bee, as it could not lick up nectar so
quickly and could not free its proboscis
without great loss of time in case that in-
strument became clogged.
Any one who has watched a bumble-bee
disengage a bit of honey-comb or other
foreign substance that had become wedged
in its proboscis will appreciate the advan-
tages of an organ that can, so to speak, be
taken quickly apart and cleared out.
The proboscis lies behind the upper lip
and is formed of the tongue, the lower
lip, and two side pieces called maxille.
These organs are common to all insects,
but in the bees are modified to form a
long nectar-gathering instrument.
The two maxill (J/, JZ) together form the sharp-pointed


dagger-like organ which the bee first
lets down. They are horny in sub-
stance and are two-jointed. They
can readily be separated from each
other as shown in the illustration,
though normally they lie side by side,
the thin inner edges of their lower
joints (2,2) overlapping above the
tongue and forming the top of the
proboscis.
They are hollowed within, thus
forming an arched roof to the pro-
boscis, but as they do not meet un-


derneath, they fail to form a perfect tube.
22 The Honey-Makers


Beneath the maxille lies the lower lip. This is composed
in part of two four-jointed organs, the labial palpi (Z/).
