42 Poisonous Arthropods 



cloths wrung out in hot water and appHed as hot as can be borne, 

 affords much rehef in the case of severe stings. The application of 

 wet clay, or of the end of a freshly cut potato is sometimes helpful. 

 In extreme cases, where there is great susceptibiHty, or where 

 there may have been many stings, a physician should be called. He 

 may find strychnine injections or other treatment necessary, if 

 general symptoms develop. 



Other Stinging Forms — Of the five thousand, or more, species 

 of bees, most possess a sting and poison apparatus and some of the 

 larger forms are capable of inflicting a much more painful sting than 



28. The poison apparatus of Formica. Wheeler, after Forel. 



that of the common honey-bee. In fact, some, like the bumble bees, 

 possess the advantage that they do not lose the sting from once using 

 it, but are capable of driving it in repeatedly. In the tropics there 

 are found many species of stingless bees but these are noted for their 

 tinited efforts to drive away intruders by biting. Certain species 

 possess a very irritating saliva which they inject into the wounds. 



The ants are not ordinarily regarded as worthy of consideration 

 under the heading of "stinging insects" but as a matter of fact, 

 most of them possess w"ell developed stings and some of them, especi- 

 ally in the tropics, are very justly feared. Even those which lack 

 the sting possess well-developed poison glands and the parts of the 

 entire stinging apparatus, in so far as it is developed in the various 

 species, may readily be homologized with those of the honey-bee. 



