OPINION of l'abbe della rocca. 105 



purpose of spoil, and is entrapped in his base design by the 

 wary centinels, would he suffer himself to be repeatedly 

 stung by them, when he could return the compliment ? and 

 at all events, although he might be overpowered by numbers, 

 yet he would sell his life dearly, as some of the warriors 

 would fall by the venom of his sting ; and, in this instance, 

 the wasp would have the superiority, for he does not leave 

 his sting after having made use of it ; and no person, who 

 is acquainted with the make of the bees' sting, but will 

 admit that the cuticle of the wasp is of that hard nature, 

 that the sting of the bee would most certainly remain in it, 

 and of course the bee would die. The sting of the wasp 

 would here have the superiority ; or as it is not of that 

 barbed nature as to prevent the insect from retracting it, 

 the wounds made by it would occasion the death of every 

 bee which came in contact with it. Now, we would ask 

 the apiarians, who assert that the drone dies by the 

 sting of the bee, whether they ever examined one of the 

 massacred drones, and if they did, whether they ever found 

 even a scar or a wound demonstrative of the sting of the 

 bee ? 



It is curious to observe the contradictions and incon- 

 sistencies, which often attend the observations of certain 

 celebrated apiarians, on whose judgment many persons are 

 disposed to rely with implicit faith, carried away by the 

 sound of a noted name. In the case now under discussion, 

 the Abbe della Rocca says, " In the destruction of these 

 unfortunate insects (the drones) the bees not only make use 

 of starvation, but they also employ their teeth and their 

 stings; which-ever method they adopt, no injury whatever 

 accrues to themselves ; for if in stinging their victims, they 

 left the sting in the wound, it would be found in the corpse of 

 the drone ; a part also of their entrails would be seen, and 

 the number of those which would die, would cover the base 

 of the hive, and prevent the ingress and egress of the bees." 



