The Sting 



97 



The wound inflicted by the sting of the honey-bee is 

 very minute, being not more than one twelfth or one fif- 

 teenth of an inch deep and only one five hundredth of an 

 inch in diameter. So far as the mere puncture is con- 

 cerned it does no more harm than a prick from the finest 

 cambric needle, but when into these little wounds the sting- 

 ing poison is pumped that is another story. As soon as the 

 sting enters, the poison is pressed out of the poison-sac by 

 muscles provided for the purpose, and ejected into the 

 wound with spirit and precision. 



The method of working the lances is very ingenious, 

 three horny plates on either side, K, B, Z, acting as levers 

 to move the long curved rods V, A, S. 

 The sheath separates at A, A, one half 

 curving to the right, the other to the 

 left, the dark line bordering the inner 

 edge of the curve on either side rep- 

 resenting the guiding rails in which 

 the lances ride, for the lances also 

 curve away from each other at A, A, 

 following the divisions of the sheath. 

 The lances reach beyond the sheath, 

 and at Fon either side are articulated 

 to the horny plate B, which in turn 

 is articulated to the plate Z. 



These plates act as levers and when they raise the point 

 V the tip of the lance is lowered ; when they depress the 

 point Fthe tip is raised. 



The plate K attached to the upper termination of the 

 sheath acts in a similar manner, lowering and raising the 

 tip of the sheath. 



Muscles attach the plates B, K, Z, to the inner side of 

 the abdominal walls and by contraction move them, when, 

 a? has been described, they act as levers upon the long 



