198 THE MARVEL OF INSECT LIFE. 



the Workers, the last-mentioned insects being the rank 

 and file of the bee army, the males and females being the 

 officers. 



Males, however, are comparatively unimportant in 

 bee life, bees, like ants, being essentially a nation of 

 Amazons, and the interest of the community centreing in 

 the workers. 



Putting the males on one side, we have now to con- 

 sider one part of the structure which is common to both 



the queen and the workers. This is the sting, and a 

 very beautiful apparatus it is. 



If we press the abdomen of a bee or wasp, so as to 

 cause the sting to protrude, we should naturally think 

 that the sharp, dark-coloured instrument was the sting 

 itself. This, however, is not the case. The real sting is 

 a very slender instrument, nearly transparent, keenly 

 pointed, and armed on one edge with a row of barbs. 

 So exactly does the sting resemble the many-barbed 

 arrow of certain savage tribes, that if the savages had 

 possessed microscopes, we should certainly have thought 



