258 STATK I'.OAKD OF AGRICULTURE. 



long years or ages in their small island home, the principle of "survival of the 

 fittest" must have been ^vorking powerfully to weed out the inferior and to 

 preserve and make stroncjcr the superior. And so the great poet has well said : 

 "Sweet are the uses of adversity.'' 



From the above considerations it seems obvious, that would we perpetuate 

 the excellencies given us by the skillful breeding of nature, though we may 

 not destroy all the feeble, as nature has done, we must assuredly study and 

 observe so closely, that we shall know of a surety which are our very superior 

 queens, and be even more careful to breed from no other. Whether care or 

 carelessness will be most promoted by our present system I leave for you to 

 say. But I do wish that we might have at least a few breeders with time, 

 means, caution, skill, and patience, who would work with earnest zeal to not 

 only keep all the excellence we now have, but to augment this excellence, as I 

 am sure it may be augmented. 



But if our cheap queen system is to continue, then, surely, we may well 

 stimulate frequent importations from Italy and Cyprus, and thus hope to com- 

 pensate in part for what will be lost by hasty, careless, and indiscriminate 

 breeding. — American Bee Journal. 



THE STING OF THE WORKER BEE. 



PROF. A. J. COOK. 

 fFrom Manual of the Apiary, 5th Edition.] 



The worker bees possess an organ of defense, which they are quick to use if 

 occasion demands. This organ is straight, not curved as is the sting of the 

 queen. The poison, which is emitted in stinging and which causes the severe 

 pain, is an acid fluid, which is secreted by a double gland, and stored in a 

 muscular sack (Fig. c), which is about the size of a flax-seed. This sack is 

 connected by a tube (Fig. m) with the reservoir of the sting. The sting is a 

 triple organ consisting of three sharp hollow spears, which are very smooth 

 and of exquisite polish. If we magnify the most beautifully wrought steel 

 instrument it looks rough and unfinished; while the parts of the sting, how- 

 ever highly magnified, are smooth and perfect. The true relation of the three 

 parts of the sting was accurately described by Mr. J. K. Bledsoe in the Ameri- 

 can Bee Journal, vol. 6, p. 29. The action in stinging and the method of 

 extruding the poison is well described in a beautifully illustrated article by Mr. 

 J. D. Hyatt in Vol. I., No. 1, of "American Quarterly MicroscopicalJournal." 

 The larger of the three awls (Fig. a), usually, though incorrectly, styled the 

 sheath, has a large cylindrical reservoir at its base (Fig. s) which is entirely 

 shut off from the hollow (Fig. h) in the more slender part of the awl, which 

 latter serves no purpose, except to give strength and lightness. 



The reservoir connects at its base with the poison sack and below by a slit 

 with the opening (Fig. n) made by the approximation of the three awls. 



The other two awls (Fig. h, b, h), which we will call lancets, are also hollow 

 (Fig. i, i). They are barbed (Fig. u, u, u) much like a fish-hook, except that 

 there are eight or ten barbs instead of one. Five of the barbs are large and 

 strong. These barbs catch hold and cause the extraction of the sting when 



