Thes HIS) THO RY? of IIN’S E € Es! 
cuous. I have alfo perceived little parts of the 
fame kind in the inteftines of Hornets. It is ob- 
fervable befides, that the extreme part of the 
inteftine, in which thefe fix little parts are 
found, is fometimes {welled, almoft beyond 
what could be believed, with excrements. Thefe 
are of a pale yellow colour, and are divided into 
{mall pieces, like bee-bread, though their little’ 
lumps are neither round, nor of any other re- 
gular figure. One may further remark, that the 
inteftine, in which thefe fix oblong glandular 
little parts are placed, is fometimes found as 
fully diftended with an aqueous humour, of a 
yellowifh colour, as with the yellow and more 
folid matter beforementioned. But this is only 
in very young Bees juft produced from the 
Nymph. ; 
This gut is again contracted where it. ends, 
but from that part it again dilates itfelf, and at 
length forms the rectum or laft gut. This ex- 
treme part of the inteftine fometimes wants the 
laft contraction, and in that cafe appears rather 
‘like rumpled linen, or a cotton handkerchief, 
drawn through one’s hand. The inteftine finally . 
terminates under the point of the {ting where the 
excrements are voided, and the rectum arifes 
from it. | 
"If thefe guts joined to the ftomach are laid 
on a thin plate of glafs, and heated by the flame 
of a lamp till thoroughly dried, then you may 
fee not only their circular fibres, but even 
thofe valves which have been called by Kerk- 
ring in the inteflines of men, the valvule con- 
niventes, and which were defcribed and in 
fome manner delineated by Spigelius. Ruyfch 
firft, in the year 1667, demonftrated them in 
an inflated human gut. I have made the fame 
obfervation alfo in the Bee and Wajfp. 
Behold! thefe are the entrails of the com- 
-mon or working Bee; there does not appear 
among them the fmalleft trace of {permatic 
organs or the genital parts, or of any thing 
which can anfwer the purpofe of, or even be 
compared toa penis or ovary. Hence I think 
thefe Bees may moft juftly and properly be faid 
to be natural eunuchs, and fuch as can only 
work and feed, cherifh and rear the progeny 
of others as their own. On the contrary, as 
I have beforementioned, the genital organs are 
very plainly feen in drones, as they are the 
true males of the Bees: their whole belly is in 
a manner filled by the tefticles, as I fhewed to 
his ferene highnefs the grand duke of Tufca- 
ny, among other wonders of nature, in the 
year 1668, when he gracioufly condefcended 
to approve of my labours. 
I fhall now proceed to the fting, that won- 
derful work of nature, and eminent example 
of the wifdom of the great Creator. It is 
placed in the hinder part of the body, its point 
lies juft over the end of the rectum or ftraight 
gut: the fting is therefore placed in the laft 
rings of the belly, with which it is alfo very 
rematkably jointed, by means of fome carti- 
lages, But as the fting is worthy of the great- 
eft attention, I fhall defcribe it at large, toge- 
197 
ther with all the parts fubfervient to it, having 
in view only the praife and glory of the moit 
wife and excellent Creator. In. the {ting there 
are difcovered, firft, the channels through 
which its poifon is conveyed to it. Secondly, 
its cartilages, Thirdly, itsmufcles. Fourthly, 
its two pieces called legs. And lafily, the fheath 
within which the legs which properly conftitute 
the fting are hid: 
That the fting has poifon in it, R. Hooke, 
a writer of great experience and learning, has 
in fome meafure laboured to demonftrate in his 
ineftimable micrographia, written in Englith; 
thinking that the poifon lay hid in the hollow 
thicknefs of the fheath of the fting, which 
however is never the cafe, unleis by mere 
accident. 
Let any one with a forceps or little fteel 
tweezers take hold of the legs, wings, or 
which laft will be moft convenient, the breaft 
of the common Bee, and he will generally fee 
a {mall clear drop as it were of water hanging 
on the point of the fting. In this water the 
poifonous quality of the Honey-Bee is properly 
contained. ‘This, as foon as it drops into the 
wound, produces the pain that follows the 
wound ; for the fting itfelf is not ‘in the leaft 
degree venomous, nor does its puncture hurt 
more than that of a needle. For experiment’s 
fake I have often wounded myfelf with the 
fting, and felt no other ill confequence from it 
than a flight itching in the wounded. part; but 
the fting muft be firft thoroughly cleanfed and 
well fqueezed and wiped for this trial, for it 
might otherwife probably happen that the injury 
would be more confiderable. 
To proceed in order, I would have it. ob- 
ferved, that the venomous liquor which only 
paffes through the fting is originally depofited 
in the belly of the Bee, and there contained in 
a little bladder nearly tranfparent. This little 
bladder is of an oblong figure, and of a very 
{trong texture, fo as to bear the force of the 
fingers prefling it without any damage: nay, 
fo great is its firmnefs, that the belly of the 
common Bee being opened, let this little bladder 
be taken hold of, and the whole fting and all 
its parts may be eafily drawn with it out of 
the body, without the bladder being broke. 
I have found this bladder of poifon fo ftrong, 
even in the {maller kinds of Wafps, that by 
prefling it with my fingers as hard as I could, 
the poifon might be thrown to the diftance of 
two foot from it through the fting. It is fur- 
ther remarkable, that a very ftrong mufcle 
twines about this little bladder, and has its ten- 
dril in the middle, as it is in the mufcle called 
the temporal mufcle in the human {pecies. 
When that mufcle contracts itfelf, the poifon is 
by its force fqueezed out and thrown into the 
wound, fo that the {ting may be compared to 
a fimall fyringe ; the little bladder or rather 
the mufcle of it juft mentioned ferving it in 
the ftead of an impelling plug. But I have 
not hitherto diftinétly examined this mufcle in 
the common Bee: I have feen it in the Walp, 
OR) and 
