THE AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL. 



to ladies, who were thus aflforded, not only 

 pleasant and protitablf occupation, but aWi 

 P!ave them outdoor -work, and tlius l)enetit- 

 ed their general health. She spoke brietly 

 on the question of profit, and claimed tha't 

 there was no other i)u>iness which offered 

 such strong inducements to those who wisli- 

 ed to make money on small capital. 



There was further discussion of the 

 topic, by Messrs. Hoagland, Zimmerman, 

 Chapman, Kiug, Clarke, Anderson, Kush, 

 Pope, Benedict and others. 



PKOBUCTION OF THE QIEK^-BKE. 



Mr. Alfred Chapman opened tlie dis- 

 cussion of the topic, "How is the queen- 

 f)ee produced from the worker egg '?" lie 

 contended that the egg of the queen was 

 the same as that of the worker; that in 

 some cases the larvte was taken by the 

 bees and put in the queen's cell, and that 

 the drone also wns hatched in the queen's 

 cell. . 



Mr. A. Benedict said that he had this 

 year noticed a drone in a queen's cell, 

 but it was the only one he liad ever seen 

 there, and, it wus twenty-four days from 

 the egg. 



Further discussion followed, which was 

 participated in by Messrs, King, Zimtner- 

 luan, Chapman and others. 



Rev. W. F. Clarke was called upoii to 

 deliver an address upon the next to])ic, 

 aad responded as follows: 



THE STING OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



A painful rather than a pleasing interest 

 attaclies to the snl)jcct now ])roposi'd for 

 di.scussion. Fo>,-,ili]y this may account for 

 the fact that so little is said "about it. In 

 most minds it awakens disagreeable memo- 

 ries or nn]>leasant apprehensions. We in- 

 cline to be nnite on distressing tlu'mes. In 

 looking tlirougt) an agi-icultural lihrarv. 

 one is impressed with the idea tiuit thcie 

 tias been a sort of avoidance of tliis subject. 

 You can readily lind ample details conceru- 

 ing the honey-sac, the pollen l>ask<-t, the 

 >vax works, the wings, the eye, but marvel- 

 lously little about the sting. ' 



Kirby and Sj>ence, in their excellent trea- 

 tise on Entomology, devot*^ a paragraph to 

 "insects which attack man from' revenge 

 or fear," and remark, '-these all belong to 

 the Linnoiau onier. , Hximcnoptern, and 

 the tremendous arms with wliicli they an- 

 noy us arc two darts, liner than a luiir, 

 furnished on tln-ir outer side with several 

 barbs, not visible to the naked eye, and 

 each moving in the groove of a strong and 

 often curved slnnith, frequently taken for 

 the sting, which, when the darts enter the 

 flesh, usually injects a drop of subtle ve- 

 nom, furnished from a peculiar ves.sel in 

 which it is secreted, into the wound, occas- 

 ioning, especially it the darts be not extrat- 

 ed, a considerable tumor, accompanied l>v 

 very acute pain. Many insects are thus 

 armed and hav*- this power." Trominent 

 among them are mentioned the ichneumon, 

 the spider-wa.sp, the honey-bee, the wasp 

 and the hornet. 



Mr. (^linby has just eight lines on this 

 topic in liis valuable work entitled "Mys- 

 {*!ries of Bee-Keeping Explained." They 

 are as follows: "The sting of tlie bee, as 

 Jl a])l>cars to tlu" naked eye, is a tiny in- 



strument of war, so small, indeed, that its 

 wound would jiass imheeded by all the larg- 

 er animals, were it not for the'poison intro- 

 duced at the same instant. It has been des- 

 cribed as being composed of three parts, a 

 sheatlie and two darts. Bfith the darts are 

 f m-ju.she<l with small i)oints or barbs like a 

 fish-hook, that hold it when thrust into the 

 flesh, the liee being compelled to leave it 

 behind." 



The only full and scientific account of the 

 bee's sting we have been fortunate enough 

 to find is embotlied in a conmiunication to 

 the August, isro, number of the American 

 Bee Journal by J. K.Bledsoe, of Natchez, 

 Mississij>i>i. Four cut^ illustrate the ap- 

 pearance of the various parts of of this war- 

 like implement, as seen imder a powerful 

 nncroscope. One of them, whicn shows 

 the point of the sting, is a truly formidable- 

 looking object— a weapon of war well cal- 

 cvdated to intimidate an enemy or appal a 

 victim. Mr. Bledsoe was led to this micro- 

 scopic examination of it from certain pecu- 

 liarities of experience coimected with a 

 sting he received, and it is not surprising, 

 when we look at the terrible pictures drawn 

 by him to find him saying, 'T certainly 

 dread bees more now than before my inves- 

 tigation." The i)ith of Mr. Bledsoe's inter- 

 esting pai>er partly condensed, and partly 

 ((UottHl, literally is as follows: lie observ- 

 (■d in extricating a sting from liis i>erson, 

 that a portion of it remained in the wound, 

 and that the part still fixed in the flesh was 

 extremely fine in size; finer, indeed, than 

 the portion remo\ed, and fully as long. It 

 also ap])earcd to be a tube pulled out of the 

 main sting, much in the manner of the 

 working of a telescope. A microscope view 

 .showed however, that it was not a perfect 

 tuhi'; neither does it work with telescopic 

 action. The bee's sting is a complex in- 

 strument, being composed of three distinct 

 parts, of whicli the sheath forms one. 

 These three parts join near the edges and 

 form a tube, wljich, viewed sectionally, has 

 the shape of a triangle, the angles being 

 lounded oft'. The sheath near its point is 

 narrow, but gn>ws wider towards its base, 

 where it gradually embraces the remaining 

 ])arts, tluTcby keeping them in place in 

 their working. Near each edge or the in- 

 ner or liallow side of the sheath runs a 

 ridge which fits a corresponding groove in 

 each of the outer parts. Near its point, 

 which is rounded ratner bluiity. it is armed 

 with two feeble sets of barbs, numbering as 

 many as four in each set. The base of the 

 sting or slu^ath is large, being broad and 

 somewhat flattened, with an oblong hollow, 

 which constitutes a recejitacle for the 

 ))oison just j)revious to injection into the 

 wound. 



The other two jmrts constitute the stin.g 

 ])ro])er, and in a sectional view are semi- 

 circular, the upper edge being thicker than 

 the lower ones, and squarer, one of the 

 I'dgcs having a j^rojection extending along 

 the under or inner portion of it, thereby 

 forming a rabbet alon^j which the opposite 

 part freely moves. The under or inner 

 edge of each of these parts, ta])ers down to 

 extreme thinness, while near the termina- 

 tion of the edge, tln're runs a minute groove 

 which corresi)onds w ith the ridge mention- 

 ed in the descrijUion of the sheath, and 

 along which the parts move freely. Each 

 of these parts jnoper, tapers down to an ex- 

 ceedingly fine point. Near the point begin 

 the barbs, which, in some stings, number as 

 many as ten, extending along the sting near- 



