GENERAL CHAKACTERISTICS. 37 



S9. "It maj' often happen that one or both of the chief parts 

 of the sting- are left in the wound, when tlie sheath is with- 

 drawn, but are ravoly pcrcoived, on account of their minuteness; 

 the person stung congratulating himself, at the same time, that 

 the sting has been extracted. I have had occasion to prove this 

 fact repeatedly in my own person and in others. * » * The 

 substance of the sting, on account of its nature is readily dis- 

 solved by the fluids of the body, consequently giving irritation 

 as a foreign body for only a short time comparatively. The sting 

 when boiled in water becomes tender and easily crushed." 



For further particulars concerning the sting, we will refer 

 our readers to the chapter entitled "Handling Bees." — 

 (378.) 



90. Before terminating this comparatively short, but 

 perhaps, to many of our readers, tedious study of the or- 

 gans of the bee, we desire to commend Messrs. Girard, 

 Packard, Cook, Schiemenz, Dubini, and especially Mr. F. 

 Cheshire, who, by their writings, have helped us in this 

 part of our undertaking. We must add also that the more 

 we studj' bees, the more persuaded we are that Mr. Packard 

 was right when he wrote : 



91. " Besides these structural characters as animals, endowed 

 with instinct, and a kind of reason, differing, perhaps, only in 

 degree, from that of man, these insects outrank all the articu- 

 lates. In the unusual diff'erentiation of the individual into 

 males, females, and sterile workers, and a consequent subdivision 

 of labor between them ; in dwelling in large colonies ; in their 

 habits and in their relation to man as domestic animals, subserv- 

 ient to his wants, the bees possess a combination of characters 

 which are not found in any other sub-order of insects, and which 

 rank them first and highest in the insect serie8."^("Guide to the 

 Study of Insects.") 



93. One of the especial peculiarities of the hj-menop- 

 ters is the care most of them give to their progeny. "We 

 will show how bees nurse their joung. Other insects of 

 the same sub-order construct their nests of clay or paper, 

 or burrow in the wood, or in the earth. All prepare for 



