164 
« MiIcROGRAHPIA - 
the fide of the fheath, which, by obferving the Figure diligently, is eafie 
etiough to be perceiv'd ; and from feveral particulars, I fuppofe the Anis 
mal ‘has'a power of difplaying them, and fhutting them in again as it 
pleafes, “as. a Cat does its claws, or as an Adder or Viper can its teeth 
or fangs. °° : Hier 
The other part of the Sting was the Sword, as 1 may {o call it, which 
is fheath d, as it were,in it, the top of which 2b appeats quite through at 
the fmaller end, juft as if the chape of the fheath of a Sword were 
and the end of it appear'd beyond the Scabbard ; the end ofthis Dart(2) 
was very fharp, and it was arm'd likewife with the like Tenterhooks or 
claws with thofe of the fheath, fuchas (vxy, xy zz) thefe crooks, Tam 
very apt to think, can be clos‘d up alfo, or laid flat to the fides of: the 
Sword when it is drawn into the Scabbard,as I have feveral times obferv'd 
it tobe; and can be {pred again or extended when ever the Animal 
leafes. = 
3 The confideration of which'very pretty ftructure,has hinted to me,that 
certainly the ufe of thefe claws feems to be very confiderable, as tothe 
main end of this Inftrument, for the drawing in, and holding the fting in 
the fleth; for the point’ being very fharp, the top of the Sting or Dagger 
_ (46) isvery eafily thruft into an Animal’s body,which being once entred, 
~ 
the Bee, by endeavouring to pull it into the fheath, draws (by reafon of 
the crooks ( vx y) and (xyz) which lay hold of the fkin on either 
fide) the top of the theath (¢ fr v ) into the fkin after it, and the crooks 
ts, and r,v, being entred, when the Bee endeavours to thruft out the 
top of the {ting out of the fheath again, they Jay hold of the fkin on ei- 
ther fide, and fo not onely keep the fheath from fliding back, but helps 
the top inwards, and thus, by an alternate and fucceflive retracting and 
° 
| emitting of the Sting in and out of the fheath, the little enraged creature 
by degrees makes his revengfull weapon pierce the tougheft and thickeft 
Hides of his enemies, in fo much that fome few of thefe ftout and refo- 
lute foldiers with thefe little engines, ‘do often put to flight a huge mafty 
Bear, one of their deadly enemies, and thereby fhew the world how 
much more confiderable in Warr a few fkilfull Engineers and: refolute 
foldiers politickly order’d, that know how to manage fuch engines, ate, 
then a vatt unweildy rude force, that confides in, and aéts onel by, its 
ftrength. But (to proceed) that he thus gets in his Sting into the {kin 
I conjecture, betaitts when I have obferv'd this creature living, [have 
found it to move the Sting thus, to and fro, and thereby alfo, perhaps, 
. does, as ‘twere, pump or force out the poifonous liquor, and make it 
hang at the end of the fheath about & in a drop. The crooks, I firppofe 
alfo to be the caufe why thefe angry tseunsika? haftily —— ‘ then 
felvesfrom their revenge, do often leave thefe weapons behind them, 
fheath'd, as ‘twere, in the flefh, and, by that means, caufe the pai ull 
fymptoms to be greater,and more lafting which are very probably caus, 
partly by the — and tearing of the fkin bythe Sting, but chiefly 
y the corrofive an = cai liquor that is by this Syringe-pipe cof- 
vey'd among the fenfitive parts thereof and thereby more eaftly git 
Si} a 
