APIS MELLIFICA. 193 



of the lancets, which are hollow, and escape through minute pores 

 near the barbs. 



3. Lying near the base of the shaft of the sting, sometimes 

 covered by the poison sac, may nearly always be found the last 

 pair of abdominal ganglia, from which nerves may be traced to 

 the muscles that are attached to the plates. 



Understand the whole mechanism, how it is operated and 

 its use. 



4. Catch a living bee by the wings and press the end of the 

 abdomen against a piece of soft leather, such as a leather-covered 

 book. Pull the bee away and with a lens watch the movements 

 of the sting, which will remain caught in the leather. Observe 

 the spasmodic contractions of the poison sac. See how long 

 and how energetically the movements are continued and how 

 deep the sting is worked in. This should remind you that a 

 sting should be removed immediately, and that it should not be 

 pulled out, as grasping the poison sac will aid in injecting the 

 poison, but scraped off with a finger-nail or rubbed off. 



A drawing showing the mechanisyn of the sting is desirable. 



Field: A Study of an Ant. Proc. Acad. Nat. Sci., Philadelphia, 1901. 

 Philips: A Review of Parthenogenesis. Proc. Am. Phil. Soc, 42, 1903. 

 Root: A, B, C and X, Y, Z of Bee Culture. 



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