142 EVKNIKGS AT THE illCEOSCOPE. 



CHAPTEE Yni. 



CfSECTS : STIXGS AST) OVIPOSITOES. 



pKOBiLBLY at some period of your life you have been 

 stung by a bee or wasp. I shall take it for granted 

 that you have, and that having tested the potency of 

 these warlike insects' weapons with one sense, you have 

 a curiosity to examine them with another. Tlie micro- 

 scope shall aid your vision to investigate the morbific 

 im^^lement. 



This is the sting of tlie Honey-bee, whicli I have 

 but this moment extracted. It consists of a dark brown 

 horny sheath, bulbous at the base, but suddenly dimin- 

 ishing, and then tapering to a fine point. This sheath 

 is split entirely along the inferior edge, and by pressure 

 with a needle I have been enabled to project the two 

 lancets, which commonly lie within the sheath. These 

 are two slender filaments of the like brown horny sub- 

 stance, of which the centre is tubular, and carries a 

 fluid, in which bubbles are visible. The extremit}'- of 

 each displays a beautiful mechanism, for it is thinned 

 away into two thin blade-edges, of which one remains 

 keen and knife-like, while the opposite edge is cut into 

 several saw teeth pointing backwards. 



The lancets do not appear to be united with the 

 sheath in any part, but simply to lie in its groove ; their 

 basal portions pass out into the body behind the sheath, 

 where you see a number of muscle-bands crowded 



