fholo: James's Press Agency. 



STING OF THE HONEY-BEE 



In the middle there is a deeply grooved " guide." pointed and barbed at the tip. Working in a 

 concavity on each side of the "guide," is a slender lancet or "dart," with recurved barbs at the tip. 

 There are beadings which keep the darts sliding smoothly along the guide. The tips of the darts 

 can be protruded beyond the end of the guide. Enclosing the three dark-coloured piercing 

 structures there are two fleshy "sting-palps," shown in lighter colour in the figure, which includes 

 only the terminal part of the sting. When the bee strikes, the secretion of the poison-gland is 

 forced down between the darts and the guide. 



