a vulnerable joint with the subsequent administration of a heavy 

 dose of poison, the bee may now find herself securely attached to 

 the body of her victim and be unable to liberate herself. In such 

 circumstances, the victor succumbs to a lingering death, and the 

 vanquished is revenged through her own dead body. 



(1) The Sting. Coming now to the first of the three main parts 

 mentioned above, we can study the structure of the main shaft 

 itself. The material of which it is composed is a substance, called 

 " chitin " by entomologists (pronounced ky-tin), and is widely 

 used in Nature for a variety of purposes, and especially for the hard 

 parts, in the bodies of all insects. The whole of the bee's hard 

 external casing, its limbs and wings are made of this material as 

 well, for instance, as the wing casing of creatures like beetles, lady- 

 birds, and other kindred forms of Hfe. 



The sting when detached from the body of the bee, an easy 

 achievement, and then examined under a magnifying glass or hand 

 lens has the appearance shown in the frontispiece. It will be seen 

 that it is composed of a tapering shaft which at the top or basal 

 end swells out to form a conspicuous lump or projection called the 

 pouch, the purpose of which will be revealed in a moment. 



This delicate shaft, so slender and yet so rigid, is most scienti- 

 fically designed, forming a complex whole so wonderfully contrived 

 and is characteristic of all the working parts in the anatomy of the 

 bee. A careful study of it cannot but make one appreciate the beauty 

 and purpose of Creation, and the realisation that life is not just a 

 haphazard happening of blind chance. 



It is constructed of three main portions, each of which contains 

 an internal hollow as shown in Fig. 2A, which is the view, highly 

 magnified, as seen when the sting is cut through at right angles. 



The main upper portion is called the sheath, and the two lower 

 ones are known as the lancets. All three are interlocked together 

 by a groove in each lancet which fits a similarly shaped ridge in the 

 sheath, and this arrangement extends along the whole length of the 

 sting, thus enabhng each part to slide up and down without coming 

 apart, during the actual operation of stinging. 



The sheath and the lancets diminish in size towards the end, 

 and each is equipped with a sharp point armed with a number of 

 little barbs (see Fig. 2C) which project from the side like the tip of 

 an arrow. It is these projections which anchor the sting firmly 

 when it is inserted into the body of an adversary. 



It will be seen that the two lancets enclose a space between them 

 which forms a channel down which the poison flows and emerges 

 from a cleft in the tip as well as from minute openings below the 

 barbs. So slender is the sting and so strongly yet delicately propor- 

 tioned that the finest needle point resembles a hedge-stake by 

 comparison (see Fig. 2B). 



It will be reahsed that the poisonous liquid would have difiiculty 

 in flowing unaided through such tiny passages and moreover owing 



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