92 THE BEE-KEBPBR'S GUIDE, 



from their irritating- punctures. Some insects, like many 

 bugs, flies, beetles, and even butterflies, secrete a disgusting^ 

 fluid, or gas, which affords protection, as by its stench it 

 renders these filthy bugs so offensive that even a hungry bird 

 or half-famished insect passes them by on the other side. 

 Some Insects secrete a gas which is stored in a sac at the pos- 

 terior end of the body, and shot forth with an explosion in case 

 danger threatens ; thus by noise and smoke it startles its 

 enemy, which beats a retreat. I have heard the little bom- 

 bardier beetle at such times, even at considerable distances. 

 The frightful reports about the terrible horn of the tomato- 

 worm larva are mere nonsense ; a more harmless animal does 

 not exist. My little boy of four years, and girl of only two, 

 used to bring- them to me in the summer, and regard them as 

 admiringly as would their father upon receiving them from 

 the delighted children. 



If we except bees and wasps, there are no true insects that 

 need be feared ; nor need we except them, for with fair usage 

 even they are seldom provoked to use their cruel weapon. The 

 so-called " kissing- bugs," which usually bite on the legs, and 

 not on the lips, are too rare to be feared. There are two or 

 three species of these biting bugs. 



SEX-OHGANS OF INSECTS. 



The male organs consist of the testes (Fig-. 37, a), which are 

 double. These are made up of tubules or vesicles, of which 

 there may be from one, as in the drone-bee, to several, as in 

 some beetles, on each side the abdominal cavity. In these 

 vesicles g-row the sperm cells, or spermatozoa (Fig. 50), which, 

 when liberated, pass through a long- convoluted tube, the vas 

 deferens (Fig. 37, b, b), into the seminal sac (Fig. 37, c, c), 

 where, in connection with mucus, they are stored. In most 

 insects there are glandular sacs (Fig. 37, d) joined to these 

 seminal receptacles, which, in the male bee, are very large. 

 The sperm cells mingled with these viscid secretions, as they 

 appear in the seminal receptacle ready for use, form the 

 seminal fluid. Extending- from these seminal receptacles is 

 the ejaculatory duct (Fig. 37, <?,/, ^), which, in copulation, 

 carries the male fluid to the penis (Fig. 37, h), through which it 



