STINGS. 



412 



STINGS. 



you will often see a tiny drop of some trans- 

 parent liquid on its point. This liquid is the 

 poison of the bees sting. It has a sharp, 

 pungent taste; and when thrown in the eyes, 

 as sometimes happens, it has a stinging, 

 acrid feeling, as if it might be a compound 

 of cayenne pepper, onion-juice, and horse- 

 radish combined; and one who tastes it or 

 gets it in his eyes concludes it is not so 

 strange that such a substance, introduced 

 into the circulation, sliould produce severe 

 pain. The poison of the bee's sting has been 

 thought to be similar in composition to that 

 of the viper and scorpion; but at the present 

 writing we can not learn that any chemist 

 has ever given us an analysis that would tell 

 us just what the poison is. The virus ob- 

 tained from ants is called formic acid, and 

 we have wondered whether that from bee- 

 stings is not similar, or the same. The odor 

 from a disturbed ant-hill very much resem- 

 bles that from a colony of bees when opened 

 up on a cool morning. It seems probably a 

 V igetable acid, derived from the honey and 

 pollen that constitute the food of the bee, 

 since the poison is much more pungent while 

 the bees are working in the fields, accumu- 

 lating stores largely, than when they are at 

 rest during the winter months. It is gen- 

 erally during basswood-bloom that we get 

 ttiose severe stings which draw the blood and 

 show a large white spot around the wound. 



HOW IT IS DONE. 



It is quite an interesting experiment to 

 let a bee sting you on the hand, and then 

 coolly observe the whole performance with- 

 out disturbing it. We have sometimes, in 

 trying to see how far we could go with an 

 iingry colony of bees without the use of 

 smoke, had a lot of them strike the face with 

 a sudden dash; but as we kept perfectly still 

 they would alight without stinging. Now, 

 the slightest movement, even an incautious 

 breath, might result in some pretty severe 

 stinging; but by keeping cool and quiet, care- 

 fully walking away, escape becomes possible 

 without any stings at all. Very often a single 

 bee works itself up in a sufficient passion to 

 try to sting; but to commence while standing 

 still, we have always found to be rather diffi- 

 cult work for them; although they sometimes 

 prick slightly, giving one a touch of poison, 

 they seldom sting very severely without 

 taking wing again. To go back : After the 

 bee has penetrated the flesh of your hand, 

 and worked the sting so deeply as to be sat- 

 isfied, it begins to find itself a prisoner, and 

 to consider means of escape. It usually gets 

 smashed at about this stage of proceedings. 



unless succeessful in tearing the sting — poi- 

 son-bag and all— from the body; however, if 

 allowed to work quietly it seldom does this, 

 knowing that such a proceeding seriously 

 maims for life, often even kills the bee. /\ f- 

 ter pulling at the sting to see that it will not 

 come out, it seems to consider the matter a 

 little, and then commences to walk around 

 the sting, in a circle, just as if trying to 

 twist a screw out of a board. If you can be 

 patient and let the bee alone, it may work it 

 out, but in most cases the sting either tears 

 out from the body of the bee or breaks off. 

 We need not tell you that it takes some 

 heroism to submit patiently to all this ma- 

 noeuvring. The temptation is almost un- 

 governable, while experiencing the intense 

 pain, to say, while you give it a clip, "There, 

 you little beggar, take that, if you can not 

 learn better manners in future." 



ODOR OF BEE-STING POISON. 



After one bee has stung you on the hand, 

 its use among the bees in the hive will be 

 pretty sure to get you more stings, perhaps 

 due to the odor of virus, unless you are very 

 careful. After one sting has been inflicted, 

 there seems a much greater chance, when 

 about in the apiary, of getting more stings. 

 Mr. Quinby has suggested that this is owing 

 to the smell of the poison, and that the use of 

 smoke will neutralize this scent. We very 

 often blow smoke on the wound. The heat 

 relieves the pain somewhat, and the smoke 

 obscures the bee-sting odor. There is no 

 doubt about that. 



THE POISON OF THE BEE'S STING AS A 

 REMEDIAL AGENT. 



For some years past there have been run- 

 ning in our bee-journals many reports in 

 regard to the agency of bee-stings in the 

 cure of certain forms of diseases, especially 

 rheumatism. From the facts put forth, any 

 candid reasoner will have to admit that 

 being stung frequently does have the effect 

 of relieving certain forms of rheumatism, 

 paralysis, and perhaps dropsy. 



Numerous accounts have also appeared in 

 the daily papers of various persons affected 

 with rheumatism being greatly relieved 

 by stings, especially on the affected parts. 

 Some others have reported that they could 

 discover no appreciable effect one way or 

 the other. 



It has happened at various field day gath- 

 erings of beekeepers that certain parties 

 who read these reports, having suffered se- 

 verely because of rheumatic pains, presented 

 themselves and asked to have experts cause 



