GENERAL CHARACTEUISTICS. 35 



83. The muscles, ttiongli invisiblo lo the eye, are yet 

 stroiii; enoiig-h (o force the sliiifi;, io tliedeptli of one-twelfth 

 of an ineli, throuiih the thiek skin of ii man's hand. 



" The action of the sting," says Paloy, " affords an example of 

 the union of cheini.itrii and mechanism ; of chemistry, in respect 

 to the venom which can produce such powerful eflects ; of meoli- 

 anism, as the sting is a compound instrument. Tlio machinery 

 would have been comparatively useless, liad it not been for the 

 chemical process by whicli, in the insei^t's body, honey is con- 

 verted into poUon; and on the other hand, the poison would have 

 been inett'eotual, without an instrument to wound, and a syringe 

 to inject it." 



•• Upon examining the edge of a very keen razor by the micro- 

 scope, it appears as broad as the back of a pretty thick knif-^, 

 rough, uneven, and full of notches and furrows, and so far from 

 anything like sharpness, that an instrument as blunt as this 

 seemed to be, would not serve even to cleave wood. An exceed- 

 ingly small needle being also examined, it resembled a rough 

 iron bar out of a smith's forge. The sting of a bee viewed 

 through the same instrument, showed everywhere a polish 

 amazinglj' beautiful, without the least flaw, blemish, or inequal- 

 ity, and ended in a point too fine to be discerned." 



84. As the extremity of the sting is barbed like an ar- 

 row, the bee can seldom withdraw it, if the substance into 

 which she darts it is at all tenacious. A strange peculiarity 

 of the sting and the muscles pertaining to it, is their spas- 

 modic action, which continues quite a while, even after the 

 bee has torn herself away, and has left them attached to the 

 wound. In losing her sting, she often parts with a portion 

 of her intestines, and of necessity soon perishes. Wasps 

 and hornets are different from bees in this respect, for 

 they can sting repeatedly without endangering their lives. 



Although bees pay so dearly for the exercise of their pat- 

 riotic instincts, still, in defense of home and its sacred 

 treasures, they 



" Deem life itself to vengeance well resign'd, 



" Die on the wound and leave their sting behind." 



