62 MANUAL OP THE APIARY. 



Newport gives them as one and the same. In many insects 

 these seem absent. I have also spoken of the mucous glands, 

 the urinary tubules, etc. Besides these, there are other secre- 

 tions which serve for purposes of defense : In the queen and 

 workers of bees, and in ants and wasps, the poison intruded 

 with the sting is an example. This is secreted by glands at 

 the posterior of the abdomen, stored in sacks (Pig. 25, c), and 

 extruded through the sting, as occasion requires. I know of 

 no insects that poison while they bite, except it be mosquitoes, 

 gnats, etc., and in these cases no special secreting organ has 

 been discovered. Perhaps the beak itself secretes an irrita- 

 ting substance. A few exceedingly beautiful caterpillars are 

 covered with branching spines, which sting about like a nettle. 

 We have two such species. They are green, and of rare 

 attraction, so that to capture them is worth the slight incon- 

 venience arising from their irritating punctures. Some 

 insects, like bugs, secrete a disgusting fluid or gas which 

 affords protection, as by its stench it renders these filthy bugs 

 so offensive that even a hungry bird or half-famished insect 

 passes them by on the other side. Some insects secrete a gas 

 which is stored in a sack at the posterior end of the body, 

 and shot forth with an explosion in case that danger threatens ; 

 thus by noise and smoke it startles its enemy, which beats a 

 retreat. I have heard the little bombardier beetle at such 

 times, even at considerable distances. The frightful reports 

 about the terrible horn of the tomato-worm larva are mere 

 nonsense. A more harmless animal does not exist. My 

 little boy of four years, and girl of only two, used to bring 

 them to me last summer, and fondle them as admiringly 

 as would their father upon receiving them from the delighted 

 children. 



If we except bees and wasps, there are no true insects that 

 need be feared ; nor need we except them, for with fair usage 

 even they, are seldem provoked to use their cruel weapon. 



SEX ORGANS OF INSECTS. 



The male organs consist first of the testes (Fig. 10, a) 

 which are double organs. There may be from one, as in the 

 drone bee, to several, as in some beetles, on each side the 

 abdominal cavity. In these vesicles grow the sperm cells or 



