132 Anatomy of Bee's Sting. 



nify the most beautifully wrought steel instrument, it look, 

 rough and unfinished ; while the parts of the sting, howevci 

 highly magnified, are smooth and perfect. The true rela- 

 tion of the three parts of the sting was accurately described 

 by Mr. J. R. Bledsoe, in the American Bee Journal^\o\.b. 

 page 29. The action in stinging and the method of extrud- 

 ing the poison, are well described in a beautifully illustrated 

 article by Mr. J. D. Hyatt, in Vol. i. No. 1, of American 

 Quarterly ]\Iicroscopical yournal. The larger of the 

 three awls (Fig. 51, yl) usually, though incorrectly, styled 

 a sheath, has a large cylindrical reservoir at its base (Fig 

 51, 6') which is entirely shut off from the hollow (Fig. 

 51, H) in the more slender part of the awl, which latter 

 serves no purpose whatever, except to give strength and 

 lightness. Three pairs of minute barbs (Fig. 51) project 

 like the barbs on a fish-hook, from the end of this awl. 



The reservoir connects at its base with the poison sac 

 and below, by a slit, with the opening (Fig. 51, iV) made 

 by the approximation of the three awls. The other two 

 awls (Fig. 51, Z?, ^), which we will call lancets, are also 

 hollow (Fig. 51, /, /). They are barbed (Fig. 51, U, U) 

 much like a fish-hook, except that there are eight or ten 

 barbs, instead of one. Five of the bnrbs are large and 

 strong. These barbs catch hold and cause the extraction, of 

 the sting when the organ is used. Near the base of each 

 lancet is a beautiful valvular organ (Fig. 51, .£, -£.) Mr. 

 Hyatt thought these acted like a hydraulic ram, and by 

 suddenly stopping the current forced the poison through 

 the hollow lancets. It seems more probable that the view 

 of Mr. T. G. Bryant (Hardwick's Science Gossip, i875(, 

 is the more correct one. He suggests that these are reall}' 

 suction valves, pistons so to speak, which as the piston rods 

 — the lancets — push out, suck the poison from the sacs. 

 Strange that Mr. Cheshire should claim this \'iew as origi- 

 nal. The hollow inside each lancet (Fig. 51, /, /), unlike 

 that of the awl, is useful. It opens anteriorly in front of 

 the first six barbs (Fig. S'l ''i "ji ''S ^hown by Mr. Hyatt, 

 and posteriorly just back of the \'alves into the central tube 

 (Fig. 51, jV), and through it into the reservoir (Fig. 51, 

 S). The poison then can pass either through the hollow 



