STINGS. 67 



BO tempting to men and brutes, birds, and creeping things, 

 that it was necessary to provide bees with a means of 

 defence — viz., stings and bags of poison, which they can 

 use at will. When they receive or anticipate molestation 

 they are not slow to make use of their " poisoned arrows ; " 

 and every arrow is barbed, so that, if inserted, it sticks 

 fast — so fast that it drags the venom-bag attached to it 

 from the body of the bee. And after separation from the 

 bee, the sting is moved by a self-acting machinery, in- 

 tended, no doubt, to empty the entire contents of the 

 venom-bag into the part stung; hence the wisdom of 

 withdrawing a sting as soon as it is inflicted or inserted. 



It may be stated here that bees cannot well insert 

 their stings till they get hold with their feet, and thus 

 apply a small amount of leverage. In many hundreds of 

 instances we have saved ourselves by destroying the bees 

 before their levers could act. 



Some people are much disfigured by being stung on 

 the face ; and the question has been asked, " If these 

 people were frequently stung, would the stings continue 

 to have as great influence 1 " 'We cannot answer this 

 question with certainty, though we have known men who 

 suffered great inconvenience in early life from stings, 

 disregard them after a time ; the swelling or inflamma- 

 tory power of stings was comparatively lost on them. 

 Some people suffer more from the sting of a nettle than 

 of a bee. The sting of a nettle annoys us for many hours, 

 whereas the pain from a bee's sting does not last more 

 than a minute. 



Those who are Hable to swell much on receiving a 

 sting should wear a bee-dress when likely to be attacked 

 by bees, or when doing anything amongst them. A bee- 

 dress is simply a piece of crape or muslin tied above the 

 brim of the hat, to hang over the face, and some inches 

 below the chin. The other parts exposed are the hands 



