42 
Poisonous Arthropods 
cloths wrung out in hot water and applied as hot as can be borne, 
affords much relief in the case of severe stings. The application of 
wet clay, or of the end of a freshly cut potato is sometimes helpful. 
In extreme cases, where there is great susceptibility, or where 
there may have been many stings, a physician should be called. He 
may find strychnine injections or other treatment necessary, if 
general symptoms develop. 
Other Stinging Forms—Of the five thousand, or more, species 
of bees, most possess a sting and poison apparatus and some of the 
larger forms are capable of inflicting a much more painful sting than 
that of the common honey-bee. In fact, some, like the bumble bees, 
possess the advantage that they do not lose the sting from once using 
it, but are capable of driving it in repeatedly. In the tropics there 
are found many species of stingless bees but these arc noted for their 
united efforts to drive away intruders by biting. Certain species 
possess a very irritating saliva which they inject into the wounds. 
The ants are not ordinarily regarded as worthy of consideration 
under the heading of “stinging insects’’ but as a matter of fact, 
most of them possess well developed stings and some of them, especi¬ 
ally in the tropics, are very justly feared. Even those which lack 
the sting possess well-developed poison glands and the parts of the 
entire stinging apparatus, in so far as it is developed in the various, 
species, may readily be homologized with those of the honey-bee. 
