GLEANINGS IN BEE CULTUKE. 



Feb. 



subjects. As friend Cook is an entomolo- 

 gist, lie has been enabled to give us very 

 material aid in that department. Friend 

 Bledsoe has given us by far the most com- 

 plete description and drawings, and I have 

 just been trying, with a good microscope, to 

 verify his work. Although I have not been 

 able to verify all his work, probably because 

 I lack the necessary skill in making dissec- 

 tions, I have found some items, which I 

 think have not before been given, and I 

 have made some changes, that I think 

 brings the matter nearer the truth. 



The sting under the microscope is found 

 to be a beautifully fashioned and polished 

 instrument, whose delicate taper and finish 

 make a most surprising contrast with any 

 instrument man has been able to produce. 

 In shape, it appears to be round, but it is, in 

 reality, like a three-cornered file, with the 

 corners nicely rounded off. It is of a dark 

 red color, but transparent enough so that 

 we may see the hollow that runs through 

 the centre of each of its parts. These hol- 

 lows are probably to secure lightness as 

 well as strength. 





NgaWilP' 



BEE STING MAGNIFIED. 



I have given you three views of the differ- 

 ent parts of the" sting, like letters represent- 

 ing like parts in all. Bear in mind that the 

 sting proper is composed of three parts, the 

 outer shell or husk, D, and two barbed spears 

 that slide partly inside of it. In Fig. 2, I 

 have shown you the spears. The barbs are 

 much like the barbs on a fish hook ; and 

 when the point of one spear, A, penetrates 

 far enough to get one barb under the skin, 

 the bee has made a hold, and has no difficul- 

 ty in sinking his sting its whole length into 

 the wound ; for the pumping motion at once 



commences, and the other spear, B, slides 

 down a little beyond A, then B beyond that, 

 and so on. The manner in which these 

 spears are worked is, as near as I can make 

 out, by a pair of something like pump han- 

 dles, operated by small, but powerful, mus- 

 cles. I have shown you the arrangement of 

 these handles at J and K, Fig. 1st, as nearly 

 as I could conjecture what it must be, from 

 watching its workings under the microscope. 

 These muscles will work, at intervals, for 

 some time after the sting has been torn from 

 the bee, as I have explained. They work 

 with sufficient power to send the sting 

 through a felt hat, or into a tough buckskin 

 glove. I have often watched the bee while 

 attempting to get his sting started into the 

 hard cuticle on the inside of my hand. The 

 spears will often run along the surface diag- 

 onally, so that you can see how it works down 

 by successive pumps. The hollow in these 

 spears is indicated at G and F, in Figs. 2 

 and 3. 



Fig. 3 is a transverse section, sliced across 

 the three parts, at about the dotted line, 1). 

 A and B are the barbed spears; F and G, 

 the hollows to give them lightness and 

 strength; II II the barbs. It will be ob- 

 served that the husk, I), encloses but little 

 more than & of .them. Now the purpose of 

 this husk is to hold the barbs in place, and 

 to allow them to slide easily up and down, 

 also to direct them while doing this work. 

 To hold all together, there is a groove in 

 each of the spears, and a corresponding pro- 

 jection in the husk, which fit each other, as 

 shown in the cut. This allows the barbs to 

 project, to do their work, and yet holds all 

 together tolerably firm. I say tolerably firm, 

 for these spears are very easily torn out of 

 the husk, and after a sting is extracted, they 

 are often left in the wound, like the tiny 

 splinters I have before spoken of. When 

 torn out and laid on a slip of glass, they are 

 scarcely visible to the naked eye, but under 

 the microscope, they show as seen in Fig. 2. 



Stings do not all have the same number 

 of barbs. I have seen as few as 7 and as 

 many as 9. The two spears fit nicely into 

 each other, as shown in Fig. 3, and you will 

 observe that the shape and the arrangement 

 of the 3 parts leave the hollow, E, in their 

 centre. This hollow is for a channel for this 

 wonderful vegetable poison. The working 

 of the spears also pumps down poison, and 

 quite a good sized drop collected on the 

 points of the spears while I saw them work- 

 ing under the microscope. Friend Bledsoe 

 found a valve that let the poison out of the 

 poison bag, into this wonderful little pump, 

 but prevented it from returning. 1 have 

 not been able to see this, but have no doubt 

 that it is there. The drop of poison, after 

 it has laid on the glass a few minutes, dries 

 down, and seems to leave a gummy sub- 

 stance, that crystalizes, as it were, into 

 strange and beautiful forms. I have tried 

 to show it to you, in Fig. 4. 



There are some things about the bee 

 sting, I should much like to know. How do 

 the muscles work those levers so as to make 

 them pass and repass as they do? Is the 

 bee sting acid, perhaps formic acid? If not, 

 what is it? 



