72 INSECT MISCELLANIES. 



flies and wood-lice ( Onisci) were destroyed by the 

 same vapour, but it did not seem to affect a large 

 spider. 



We shall only mention the effect of the odour of 

 one other substance on bees, namely, their own 

 poison, which Huber was curious to ascertain. The 

 sting of one was accordingly extracted, and presented 

 to some workers before the entrance of a hive. Al- 

 though they had previously been quiet and tranquil, 

 they became all at once much agitated. None flew 

 away, but two or three darted against the sting, and 

 one furiously assailed the experimenters. That it 

 was the odour of the sting-poison alone which pro- 

 duced these violent emotions, was obvious from their 

 appearing insensible of its presence when it lost its 

 scent by drying. In another instance, bees were 

 confined in a glass tube and irritated with an awn of 

 barley, till they protruded their stings and left some 

 poison on the sides of the glass. The mouth of the 

 tube was then presented to a group of bees at the en- 

 trance of a hive, and it soon produced the agitation 

 of rage obviously unaccompanied with fear.* 



* Huber, p. 269. 



