GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS. 37 
89. “It may often happen that one or both of the chief parts 
of the sting are left in the wound, when the sheath is with- 
drawn, but are rarely perceived, on account of their minuteness ; 
the person stung congratulating himself, at the same time, that 
the sting has been extracted. I have had occasion to prove this 
fact repeatedly in my own person and in others. * * * The 
substance of the sting, on account of its nature is readily dis- 
solved by the fluids of the body, consequently giving irritation 
as a foreign body for only a short time comparatively. The sting 
when boiled in water becomes tender and easily crushed.” 
For further particulars concerning the sting, we will refer 
our readers to the chapter entitled ‘‘Handling Bees.”’— 
(378.) 
90. Before terminating this comparatively short, but 
perhaps, to many of our readers, tedious study of the or- 
gans of the bee, we desire to commend Messrs. Girard, 
Packard, Cook, Schiemenz, Dubini, and especially Mr. F. 
Cheshire, who, by their writings, have helped us in this 
part of our undertaking. We must add also that the more 
we study bees, the more persuaded we are that Mr. Packard 
was right when he wrote: 
91. “Besides these structural characters as animals, endowed 
with instinct, and a kind of reason, differing, perhaps, only in 
degree, from that of man, these insects outrank all the articu- 
lates. In the unusual differentiation of the individual into 
males, females, and sterile workers, and a consequent subdivision 
of labor between them; in dwelling in large colonies; in their 
habits and in their relation to man as domestic animals, subserv- 
ient to his wants, the bees possess a combination of characters 
which are not found in any other sub-order of insects, and which 
rank them first and highest in the insect series.’’—(“‘Guide to the 
Study of Insects.”) — 
92. One of the especial peculiarities of the hymenop- 
ters is the care most of them give to their progeny. We 
will show how bees nurse their young. Other insects of 
the same sub-order construct their nests of clay or paper, 
or burrow in the wood, or in the earth. All prepare for 
