The Three Dagger-thrusts 



which runs down the axis of the sting and 

 conducts the httle drop of poison to its tip. 

 The dimensions of the lancet are very small 

 and not such as one would expect from the 

 size of the Sphex and especially from the 

 effects which its prick produces on the Crick- 

 ets. The point is quite smooth and entirely 

 deprived of those backward indentations 

 which we find in the Hive-bee's sting. The 

 reason for this is obvious. The bee uses 

 her sting only to avenge an injury, even at 

 the cost of her life; and the teeth of the 

 dart resist its withdrawal from the wound 

 and thus cause mortal ruptures in the viscera 

 at the extremity of the abdomen. What 

 would the Sphex have done with a weapon 

 that would have been fatal to her on her first 

 expedition? Supposing that the dart could 

 be withdrawn in spite of its teeth, I doubt 

 whether any Hymenopteron using her 

 weapon chiefly to wound the game destined 

 for her larvae would be supplied with a 

 toothed sting. With her, the dirk is not a 

 show weapon, unsheathed to satisfy revenge : 

 revenge, the so-called pleasure of the gods, 

 but a very costly pleasure, for the vindictive 

 Bee sometimes pays for it with her life; it 

 89 



