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Cheshire then settles the question which has been in dispute since the time of Swammerdam, whether the bee’s tongue is solid or tubular. He agrees with Wolff that the duct is a trough and not a tube, and proves it by a satisfactory experiment. He remarks:
Fig. 87.—Longitudinal section through the head of the honey bee, ♀, just outside of right antenna: ant, antenna with three muscles attached to mes, mesocephalic pillar; cl, clypeus; lbr, labrum; 1, chyle-gland (system no. 1, of Siebold); o, opening of the same; oc, ocellus; br, brain; n, neck; th, thorax; oe, œsophagus; s.d2, s.d3, common salivary ducts of systems 2 and 3; v, salivary valve; c, cardo; ph, pharynx; mx′, labium; mx.′p, labial palpi; mt, mentum; mx, maxilla; hyp, hypopharynx; s, bouton.—After Cheshire.
“Bees have the power, by driving blood into the tongue, of forcing the rod out from the sheath, and distending the wrinkled membrane so that in section it appears as at H, Fig. 86, the membrane assuming the form of a pouch, given in full length at A. It will be seen at once that this disposition of parts abolishes the side ducts, but brings the central duct to the external surface. The object of this curious capability on the part of the bee is, in my opinion, to permit of cleaning away any pollen grains, or other impediment that may collect in the side ducts. The membrane is greasy in nature, and substances or fluids can be removed from it as easily as water from polished metal. If, now, the sides of a needle, previously dipped into clove oil in which rosanilin (magenta) has been dissolved, so as to stain it strongly red, be touched on the centre of the rod, the oil immediately enters, and passes rapidly upwards and downwards, filling the trough.”