448 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



THE BEE STING. 



Bees and a few kindred species possess the most formidable weapons of defense 

 of any of the hymenopterous insects. And it is well that they do, for none are 

 surrounded by a greater host of enemies, nor do any have a more tempting treas- 

 ure to guard. In the hive, on the wing, and in the flower, they are subject to the 

 stealthy attacks of man, and birds, and insects — murderers and robbers of the 

 most cruel type. At all times it must be ready for mortal combat, and to sell its 

 life as dearly as possible. Drilled in this savage warfare, for its very existence, 

 can we wonder that many a bee culturist, actuated by the kindliest intentions to- 

 ward the bees, should occasionally fall a victim of their vengeance ? 



Let us take a careful view of the structure and action of the bee sting. In the 

 first place, only the females {i. e. workers and the queens), possess stings. The 

 drones have no fighting weapons whatever. Hence, the sting is usually considered 

 a modified ovipositor. But in the queen, which is an especially personage, we 

 find both the sting and an arrangement for laying eggs. The various parts of the 

 sting consist of a brown, horn-like substance called chitine, which in the same ap. 

 that of which the segments of the body are made. The whole apparatus is at- 

 tached to the last segment of the body in two places, which serve as fixed points 

 for the levers of motion. All these levers are well supplied with muscles which 

 give the sting its rapid movements. 



To facilitate the description of the sting, its parts may be divided into three 

 group."?, according to their functions : 



1st. The sting proper. 



2d. The operating machinery. 



3d. The poison sac and gland. 



The sting proper consists of the central shaft and two lancets. The central 

 shaft was formerly called the " sheath," from the supposition that it was a tube 

 and the lancets were held within it. It is now well known, however, that the lan- 

 cets lie in a shallow groove on the under side of the central shaft, and all three fit 

 together so nicely as to look like a solid piece. 



The central shaft is somewhat conical in form. Its point is not so much a point 

 as a very sharp cutting edge. From the point of the sting about one-half its 

 length forward is needle-shaped. At this place it suddenly enlarges and becomes 

 cylindrical, forming a chamber which receives the poison from the poison sac. 

 The shaft is hollow for purposes of strength, possibly, as the poison does not enter 

 the wound through it. It is entirely smooth, having no barbs. 



As before mentioned, the under s-ide of the shaft is grooved. Lying in close 

 contact in this groove, and along its margins, are the lancets. They are long and 

 slender and gracefully curved at their base. The point is very sharp, and about 

 one-fourth their length is armed with strong hooked barbs, nine on each lancet, 

 pointing forward. These barbs project over the sides of the shaft, and, while they 

 offer no resistance to the entrance of the sling into the wound, they take such a 



