CHAPTER XII, 



STING STRUCTURE. 



Stings and Ovipositors — The Piercing Apparatus — 

 Sheath, Darts, and Barbs — Groove and Slide Rod — ■ 

 Muscular System — Method of Making the Wound 

 — Nerve Structure — Poison Gland — Formic Acid — 

 Experiment — Poison Bag — ■ Pump -like A ction — 

 Removal of Sting — Sting Palpi — Lubricating 

 Gland : Its Secretion ; Microscopic Examination — 

 How Friction is Reduced — Queen Sting: Its Size 

 and Modifications; How Planned for Removal; 

 Why Curved; Often Atrophied ; Development ; 

 Necessity for. 

 But few of those interested in these pages have 

 not, in times gone by, tasted of the potency of 

 the instrument now to occupy us, and the remem- 

 brance of its stimulating efficacy, apparently so out 

 of proportion to its size, may quicken our interest 

 as we investigate its structure, which we shall find 

 as complex and remarkable, and equally as suited to 

 its purpose, as those that have already come before us. 



Amongst bees, as well as the other aculeate 

 Hymenoptera, the sting is exclusively the endowment 

 of the females, and while its primary use is to 



