48 HUMBLE CREATURES. 



in the deposition of eggs, as well as to attack her 

 enemies ; and with what terrible effect she employs 

 the instrument for the latter purpose, we shall see 

 hereafter. 



And now, reader, having concluded our review of 

 these various organs and members, we would ask you 

 to reflect for an instant upon what we have together 

 examined. 



Can you imagine that all these wonderful con- 

 trivances, the superficial account of which has occu- 

 pied two chapters ; — that the mysterious antennae, 

 studded over with innumerable organs of sense ; the 

 eyes, composed of 4000 lesser organs of vision, as 

 perfect in their construction as our most highly prized 

 philosophical instruments ; the oral apparatus, con- 

 sisting of shears, and saws, and cutting blades ; the 

 ctirious legs, provided with baskets for the con- 

 veyance of food to the hive, and pliers to aid in the 

 construction of that dwelling ; the wings, formed not 

 only as members of locomotion, but also to fulfil the 

 important process of ventilation; and, lastly, the 

 sting, with its poisoned barbed lance ; — can you con- 

 ceive, we say, that all these remarkable mechanisms 

 exist upon the common Honey-Bee, which you have 

 many a time brushed from your window-pane when it 

 dared to venture inside your dwelling ? 



So, however, it is ; and you have perhaps thought 

 no more of these various wonders in the little 



tration of the poison-sac, whicli ia situated within the abdo- 

 men, about c, fig. 5, PL YL. PL Vin. flg. 2,p represents one of 

 the secreting tubes. , ,^ 



