1908] The Honey Bee and Other Bees. 215 



more aggressive to some people than to others; but, as all bee- 

 masters know, it is very seldom that they will sting if certain 

 precautions are taken. When moving about among the hives 

 you should never stand immediately in front of a hive, nor 

 hit at the bees when they circle round your head. Occasionally, 

 however, it may be necessary to kill a very persistent or irri- 

 tated bee. You can generally tell by the note emitted when a 

 bee is angry; but anger among bees, as with human beings, 

 must always be regarded with pity, particularly so in the case 

 of bees, because their excitement is only over-zeal in protecting 

 the home against a supposed enemy. The sting itself is a rather 

 complicated organ consisting of barb-tipped darts which run 

 down through a sheath and are controlled bv levers. The 

 venom is produced in a poison-gland and is stored in a special 

 sac till required. Morphologically, the sting is composed of 

 six separate parts. When a bee stings, the sting remains in 

 the wound by reason of the barbs and the insect soon dies from 

 the mutilation. In this bees differ from wasps, which have 

 smoother stings and can use them repeatedly. The changes 

 in the different stages of the Hymenoptera are what is known 

 as "complete," that is. the larva is very or completely different 

 from the pupa, and the pupa from the perfect insect, and, not- 

 withstanding that these insects show to the greatest degree 

 what we call intelligence and live the most specialized or highest 

 kind of life, the young are more helpless and dependent on their 

 parents for food and safet}^ than in any other class of insects. 

 With the Solitary wasps and bees a supply of food is stored in 

 the cell with the egg, so that the young grub on hatching finds 

 all it requires close at hand. With the Social wasps and bees, 

 and all the ants, the workers feed the young all the time until 

 they are full grown. 



The Hymenoptera constitute an enormous order embracing 

 in North America upwards of 8,000 species and include insects 

 of most diverse habits and structure. Bees, wasps and ants 

 are among the best known representatives of the order; but 

 here we also find the large and important families of parasitic 

 ichneumon flies, the small but most useful Chalcids and also 

 many gall flies and sawflies. 



A point of some interest to those who do not study insects, 

 is the difference between wasps and bees. In general appear- 

 ance these may. as a rule, be readily distinguished; but their 

 habits are also quite different. All bees feed upon nectar and 

 pollen, while wasps feed upon animal food, particularly other 

 insects. They are also, it is true,verv fond of sweet substances, 

 such as the juice of fruits, and will even steal honey from bees; 



