150 



HARDWICKE'S SCIENCE-GOSSIP. 



[July 1, 18G8. 



In the "Wasp there are remarkable differences ; 

 the poison bag, instead of swelling out at once, and 

 being very near the body of the sting, is attached to 

 the sting by a hollow duct of some length ; the bag 

 itself is smaller than that of the Humble Bee, and 

 it does not terminate in the usual long gland (see 

 fig. 142), but is, like the poison bag of the Spider, 

 to which it bears a great 

 general resemblance ; 

 and as far as the remote 

 end is concerned, the 

 poison bag of the Wasp, 

 as of the Spider, not- 

 withstanding the objec- 

 tions of some of the cor- 

 respondents of Science- 

 Gossip, may, in popular 

 terms, be not inaccu- 

 rately described as a 

 closed sac — the usual 

 terminating long gland 

 in both cases being en- 

 tirely wanting. That 

 there are secreting 

 organs there can be no 

 doubt, but then their 

 position and character 

 in these two cases are 

 perhaps yet to be deter- 

 mined. 



The poison bag of the 

 Wasp is usually covered 

 with muscular fibres set 

 transversely, and so 

 closely and firmly at- 

 tached to the bag that 

 they could not be sepa- 

 rated from it without the 

 tearing of the whole to 

 pieces. 



In some cases the 

 fibres have free ends 

 which completely ob- 

 scure the outline of the 

 bag. In several instances 

 the terminating end of 

 the bag seemed to turn 

 inwardly, and a sort of 

 knot lay inside the bag, 

 and was joined to its end 

 by a very short tube. In 

 one particular instance 

 I have found the bag to 

 be formed of very clean 

 skin, without any cover- 

 ing of muscular fibres, and when mounted in balsam, 

 and examined as a polariscopic object, there ap- 

 peared in the internal knot of the bag the crystals 



Fig. 142. Sting, lancets, and poison bag of Wasp x 25 



of which I have given a note in a former number 

 of Science-Gossip. Of these crystals I now give a 

 figure (fig. 143). 



I have not been able to repeat this instance and 

 obtain a similar specimen. 



Lastly, I would observe that although there is 

 little difference in the appearances of the sting as 



seen in water, dry, and 

 in balsam, except in 

 point of transparency, it 

 is not so with the poison 

 bag and poison gland. 

 In water, the bag ap- 

 pears to be a simple 

 membrane ; when dry, 

 the muscular covering 

 becomes very distinct ; 

 and when in balsam, the 

 bag and gland very often 

 become scarcely visible, 

 except in some cases in 

 which they appear with 

 the usual brilliancy of 

 good polariscopic ob- 

 jects. 

 % v Before closing this 



paper. T would r 

 kite the chi f points of 

 difference bctv, i n the 

 sting of a Wasp and 

 of the Humble Bee 

 or Hive Bee. In the 

 Wasp the sheath is 

 narrower above, the 

 lancets have no central 

 projection, the poison 

 bag is not close to the 

 body of the sting, but 

 separated from it by a 

 hollow cord, and the 

 long poison gland that 

 usually proceeds from 

 the end of the poison 

 bag is entirely want- 

 ing. 



I have endeavoured, 

 in simple language, to 

 give a plain account of 

 stings and their attach- 

 ments, not as obtaiued 

 from artificially set speci- 

 mens, but from many 

 practical dissections ; 

 and although it maybe 

 impossible to explain 

 the use of every structure, or the mode of operation 

 of every mechanism, still it is the privilege of every 

 competent observer to direct attention to facts 



