GENERAL HINTS 19 
it, and the poison enters the wound. For 
this reason it is necessary that the sting 
should be extracted as soon as_ possible, 
for the longer it remains in the flesh the 
greater will be the irritation. Should the 
sting be inflicted near a hive it will be 
wise to remove oneself from the neigh- 
bourhood without loss of time, for it 
is a well-known fact that the scent of the 
sting attracts other bees and arouses their 
anger against the presumed enemy of their 
kind. 
The best remedy for a sting from a bee is 
methylated spirit, applied immediately the sting 
has been extracted—though it is well to re- 
member that bees have an abhorrence of spirit, 
so that all trace of it should be removed before 
venturing near a hive, or further stings may be 
induced. There are many popular remedies 
for stings, such as the application of am- 
monia, washing soda, the blue bag, an onion 
—all of which have the same _ object— 
to nullify the effects of the irritant poison, 
of which formic acid is one of the principal 
constituents. 
Occasionally bees will attack fowls, al- 
though it is more than likely in most such 
cases that the fowls are the aggressors and 
