94 SMITHSONIAN MISCELLANEOUS COLLECTIONS VOL. IO3 



the Other hand, Shafer (1917) describes four cases in which he 

 observed the bulb everted and contained within the vagina. Both 

 writers agree that the bulb has an inverted position in the queen, and 

 Shafer notes that the reversed points of the dorsal plates of the bulb 

 are pressed upward against the vaginal wall, thereby preventing an 

 extraction of the bulb. Only the bulb is said to be found adhering 

 to a mated queen, the other parts of the male organ, the cervix and 

 the bursa, probably being torn away when the queen detaches herself 

 from the drone. Both Shafer and Bishop believed that the spermatozoa 

 are discharged into the vagina directly from the exposed end of the 

 ejaculatory duct, but according to Zander the sperm are already stored 

 in the bulb at the time of mating. The observations recorded above 

 on the presence of a spermatic mass in the bulb of unmated drones 

 suggests that the condition described by Zander is true probably in 

 most cases. Differences in the age of drones examined may account 

 for the observed presence or absence of spermatozoa in the bulb. 



The mating of the honey bee is a subject that still needs investi- 

 gation. We know nothing definitely concerning the function of the 

 various structural parts of the complex endophallic organ of the 

 drone, and, notwithstanding evidence that the bulb is everted into the 

 vagina, it is difficult to imagine how such a thick-walled structure can 

 be turned inside out. 



The sting. — The sting of the bee has been so many times described 

 that only a summarized account of its structure and mechanism need 

 be given here; the writer has elsewhere (1933) given a full discussion 

 of both phases of the subject. Though the hymenopterous sting is 

 a modified ovipositor, its parts have long been known to students 

 of the honey bee under special names, and these names will be used 

 in the following description. 



The act of stinging involves movements of the entire abdomen that 

 accomplish the initial thrust of the shaft of the sting into the skin of 

 the victim. The farther penetration of the shaft into the wound and 

 the injection of the poison are produced by movements of the sting 

 itself. The stinging organ (fig. 31 A) comprises two distinct parts: 

 one is a large basal part by which the sting is attached within the 

 sting chamber at the end of the abdomen, and which constitutes the 

 motor apparatus ; the other is the long, tapering shaft, which is the 

 effective part of the organ, and is alone protracted from the abdomen 

 during the act of stinging. The two parts of the sting are connected 

 anteriorly by a pair of curved, flexible arms, and in the position of 

 rest the shaft lies beneath the basal part and is mostly concealed within 

 the latter. 



