IKBITABILITy OF BEES. 283 



tiny instrument of war; so small,, indeed, that its 

 wound would pass unheeded by all the larger animals, 

 if it was not for the poison introduced at the same in- 

 stant. It has been described as being ■ " composed of 

 three parts, a sheath and two darts. Both the darts 

 are furnished with small points or barbs like a fish- 

 hook," that hold it when introduced into the flesh ; 

 the bee being compelled to leave it behind. 



DOES ITS LOSS PROVE FATAL? 



It is said " to the bee itself this mutilation proves 

 fatal." This last is another assertion for fact, so often 

 repeated, that perhaps we might as well admit it ; 

 seeing the difficulty we should have in disproving it. 

 Only think of the impossibility of keeping our eye, 

 for five minutes, on a bee- that is flying about, after it 

 has left its sting. Yet there are some persons so very 

 particular about what they receive as facts, that they 

 would require this very unreasonable thing of watch^ 

 inga bee till it died, before they could be positively 

 sure that the loss of its sting caused its death. (It is 

 much easier to guess.) They might even take analo- 

 gy, and say that other insects possess so little sensation 

 that they have been known to recover after much 

 more extensive mutilation — that beetles have lived for 

 "months under circumstances that would have instant- 

 ly killed some of the higher animals-^that spiders 

 often reproduce a leg, even lobsters can replace a lost 

 claw, &c. I have put off describing any protection 

 against their attacks, because I wish to get up a little 

 more courage in our doing& among them. Yet it is 



