214 NATURAL THEOLOG r. 



is not a simple, but a compound instrument. The visibk 

 Bting,=^ though drawn to a point exquisitely sharp, is in strict 

 ness only a sheath, for, near to the extremity, may be per- 

 ceived by the microscope two minute orifices, from which 

 orifices, in- the act of stinging, and, as it should seem, after 

 the point of the main sting has buried itself in the flesh, are 

 launched out two subtile rays, which may be called the true 

 or proper stings, as being those through which the poison is 

 infused into the puncture already made by the exterior sting. 

 I have said that chemistry and mechanism are here united , 

 by which observation I meant, that all this machinery would 

 have been useless, telwn imbelle, if a supply of poison, intense 

 in proportion to the smallness of the drop, had not been fur- 

 nished to it by the chemical elaboration which was carried 

 on in the insect's body ; aud that, on the other hand, the poi- 

 son, the result of this process, could not have attained its effect, 

 or reached its enemy, if, when it was collected at the extrem- 

 ity of the abdomen, it had not found there a machinery fitted 

 to conduct it to the situations in which it was to operate — 

 namely, an awl to bore a hole, and a syringe to inject the 

 fluid. Yet these attributes, though combined in their action, 

 are independent in their origin. The venom does not breed 

 the sting; nor does the sting concoct the venom. 



IV. TYiQ proboscis, with which many insects are endowed, 

 comes next in order to be considered. It is a tube attached 

 to the head of the animal. In the bee, it is composed of two 

 pieces, connected by a joint ; for, if it were constantly extend- 

 ed, it Avould be too much exposed to accidental injuries ; there- 

 fore, in its indolent state, it is doubled up by means of the 

 joint, and in that position lies secure under a scaly penthouse. 

 In many species of the butterfly, the proboscis, when not in 

 use, is coiled up like a watch-spring. In the same bee, the 

 proboscis serves the office of the mouth, the insect having no 

 other ; and how much better adapted it is than a month 



* Plate v., Fig. 7. A sting magnified; a. a, muscles that projoot 

 it; 6, the tube; c, the sheath-, a, the true sting; e, the poison-basf. 



