78 The Bee People. 
sufficiently to use her sting before she is 
a dead bee. 
You may think: she never stings when 
she is dead, but I have heard otherwise. 
However, that is another story. The birds 
that swallow her must sometimes get stung, 
but they do not seem to object; perhaps 
they enjoy it. 
If you really want to know whether Miss 
Apis is willing to sting if she gets the 
chance, pick her up some day when she 
is getting nectar from a flower. 
You will learn several things. First, 
that the best thing 
en the circumstances 
is to let fee | go as soon as possible, and 
pursue some other path to knowledge. 
But if you are a philosopher, you will 
not fail to observe what a very convenient 
position her sting occupies, as convenient 
for its purpose as the pollen-baskets are 
for theirs. She twists her jointed abdomen 
