34 



PHYSIOLOGY OF THE HONEY-BEE. 



82. Each spear of the sting has about nine barbs, which 

 are turned back like those of a fish hook, and prevent the 

 stino- from being easily withdrawn. When the insect is 

 prepared to sting, one of these spears, having a little 

 longer point than the other, first darts into the flesh, and 



Fig. 18. 

 THE STING OF THE WORKER-BEE, AND ITS AT'l'ENDAGES. 



(Magnified. From Girarcl . ) 

 a, sting; 'i, poison-sack; r,'-, poison glands; t///, secreting bags. 



being fixed by its foremost barb, the other strikes in also, 

 and they alternately penetrate deeper and deeper, till they 

 acquire a firm hold of the flesh with their barbed hooks. 



"Meanwhile, the poison is forced to the end of the spears, 

 by much the same process which carries the venom from the 

 tooth of a viper when it bites." — (Girard.) 



