374 THE COMMON WASP. 



wisdom of nature, is, in reality, a most merciful 

 effort of instinct*. 



Like the male Honey-bees, the male Wasps are 

 destitute of stings ; but the females and neuters 

 have stings, the poisonous liquor of which, when 

 introduced into any part of the human body, excites 

 inflammation, and creates a considerable degree of 

 pain. This sting consists of a hollow and very 

 sharp-pointed tube, having at its root a bag of 

 pungent juice, which, in the act of stinging, is 

 pressed out, and conveyed through the tube into our 

 flesh. — There are also two small, sharp, and bearded 

 spears lying, as in a sheath, within the tube. Dr. 

 Derham counted eight beards on the side of each 

 spear, which, he says, were formed somewhat like 

 the beards of fish-hooks. These spears He one with 

 its points a little before the other in the sheath, to 

 be ready, in all probability, to be first darted into 

 the flesh; where being once fixed, by means of its 

 foremost beard, the other then strikes in also ; and 

 they in this manner alternately pierce deeper and 

 deeper, their beards taking more and more hold in 

 the flesh ; after which the sting or sheath follows, 

 in order to convey the poison into the wound. The 

 hole in the tube is not exactly at the end, for in 

 that case the instrument would not be so well able 

 to wound : the sting is drawn to a hard and sharp 

 point, and the incision through which the spears 



* Reaum. Mem. pour seivir a l'Histoire des Insectes, torn. vi. 



