January— Mnrcii 1SS5. 



PSl'CHE. 



251 



THE DOUBLE KOLE OF THE STING OF THE HONEY-BEE.* 



Very iinport.iut and liigbl_y interesting 

 discoveries have recently been made iu 

 regard to a double role [ilayed by the 

 sting of the honey-bee. These discov- 

 eries explain some hitherto inexplicable 

 phenomena in the domestic economy of 

 the ants. It is already known that the 

 honey of our honey-bees, when mixed 

 with a tincture of litmus, shows a dis- 

 tinct red color, or in otiier words has 

 an acid reaction. It manifests this pe- 

 culiarity because of the volatile formic 

 acid which it contains. This admixed 

 acid confers upon crude honey its pre- 

 servative power. Honey which is puri- 

 fied l)y treatment with water under heat, 

 or the so-called honey-syrup, spoils soon- 

 ei', because the formic acid is volatil- 

 ized. The honey of vicious swarms of 

 bees is characterized by a tart taste and 

 a pungent odor. This effect is pro- 

 duced by the formic acid, which is 

 present iu excess in the lioney. Hith- 

 erto it has been entirely unknown in 

 what way the substratum of this pe- 

 culiarity of honey, the formic acitl in 

 the honey, could enter into this vomit 

 from the honey-stomach of the workers. 

 Only the most recent investigations 

 have furnished us an explanation of 

 tins process. The sting of the bees is 

 used not only for defense but quite 

 principally serves the important purpose 

 of contributing to the stored honey an 



* Transhited from an article entitled 'Ueber eine 

 dnppelrolle des stachels der iionigbicnen" in Deutsch- 

 amerikanische apotheker-zeUung', 15 Jan. iSSg, jahrg. 5, 

 p. 664; tliere reprinted from ^'Ind. bhitier." 



antizymotic and antiseptic substance. 

 The observation has recent!}' been made 

 that the bees in the hive, even when 

 they are undisturbed, wipe oft' on the 

 combs the minute drops of bee-poisou 

 (formic acid) which from time to time 

 exude from the tip of their sting. And 

 this excellent pi-eservative medium is 

 thus sooner or later contributed to the 

 stored honey. The more excitable and 

 the more ready to sting the bees are, 

 the greater will be the quantity of for- 

 mic acid which is added to the honey, 

 and the admixture of which good honey 

 needs. The praise which is so com- 

 monly lavished upon the Ligurian race 

 of our honej' bees, which is indisposed 

 to sting — and such praise is still ex- 

 pressed- at the peripatetic gatherings 

 of German bee-masters — is therefore 

 from a practical point of view a false 

 praise. Now we understand also why 

 the stingless honey-bees of South Amer- 

 ica collect little honey. It is well 

 known that never more than a very 

 small store of honey is found in felled 

 ti'ees inhabited by stingless Melipona. 

 What should induce the Melipona to 

 accumulate stores which they could not 



[ireserve : 



Thev lack formic acid. 



( »nly three of the eighteen different 

 known species of honey-bees of northern 

 Brazil have a sting. A peculiar phe- 

 nomenon iu the life of certain ants has 

 always been problematical but now it 

 finds also its least forced explanation. 

 It is well known that there are different 

 grain-gathering species of ants. The 



