The BOOK 
and moft confpicuoufly in the Hornet, after I 
had firft kept that infect a whole year in bal- 
fam. This method I fome years fince difco- 
vered, and by it the parts may be moft happily 
and diftinétly viewed. There comes out of 
this little bladder, in every fpecies of Bees, a 
{mall thin tube, which is extended as far as the 
fheath of the fting, and this at length runs 
between the two open legs of the fting, enters 
into the fheath, and terminates in the thickeft 
part of it. It is by this channel that the poi- 
198 
{on is conveyed from the little bladder through — 
the fheath into the fting, and pafling from the 
hollow part of the fheath between and under 
the legs of the fting, it is darted into the 
wound when the Bee gives the ftroke. 
On one fide of the little poifon-bladder in 
the Bee, is feen a fmall, oblong, thin, crooked 
tube. Of this kind I have obferved two in the 
Hornet, in which creature the poifon-bladder is 
alfo twice as large as in Bees. I have feen be- 
fides other {mall tubes growing laterally out 
of that I mentioned, but I could not immedi- 
ately difcover whether they terminated. I af- 
terwards however obferved in Wafps and Hor- 
nets, that in the body of thefe animals there 
are two diftinét little tubes, Tab. XVIII. fig. 
iv. ¢¢, inferted into the hinder part of the 
poifon-bladder z, through which little pipes the 
poifon is conveyed into that bladder, and in 
which the poifon is properly fecreted. Thefe 
{mall pipes appeared unequal, with little 
fwellings here and there, as is feen ddd, and 
terminated in clofed endings ee, as the blind 
guts of Hens, which fame thing I have ob- 
ferved alfo in Bees. Thefe {mall veffels are 
much wider towards the hinder parts than in 
the fore parts, and about their extremities 
where they are clofed, they are very thickly 
furrounded with fat and pulmonary tubes, for 
which reafon they cannot be feparated from 
the other parts without great difficulty. I have 
alfo remarked, that thefe poifonous veffels in 
Bees very nearly refemble thofe which are 
found in Wafps, and are juft fuch as I have in 
the third figure, Tab. XIX. 2, drawn to the 
life in a female Bee: 2 denotes the poifon-blad- 
der in the female ; 7 the fluice of the bladder ; 
» the fmall tabe in which the poifon or venom 
is fecreted, g4are the clofed ends, the {mall 
tube in which the poifon is concotted. ‘Thefe 
appear to confift of a two-fold fubftance ; the 
one glandulous, of a whitith colour, and not 
of a very firm texture; the other is membra- 
naceous, with fomething like a filament quite 
tranfparent, which fticks within the former 
fubftance, by which it is {hut in and furround- 
ed, like the {mall tube of the veffel called the 
vas deferens, which is in itfelf extremely flen- 
der, and is alfo compaffed about by a glandu- 
lous and nervous fubftance. The former fub- 
ftance is very eafily feparated in the handling 
of it from that within, which is skinny, tranf- 
parent, hollow, and very much like a fine hair. 
This fmall tube is befides very ftrongly joined 
to the faffron-coloured veffels by numerous pul- 
of NAP DUR B: 
or, 
monary tubes, fo that at firft fight I fhould 
have thought thefe veffels were productions of 
the {mall tube; but as they are moft ftrongly 
fixed to that part where the gut contracts itlelf, 
and the fubftance they confift of curdled in my 
balfam ; whereas, on the contrary, the humour 
contained in the {mall pipe of the poifon- 
bladder remained clear and bright in the fame 
balfam, I was thoroughly convinced from 
thence, and from what I have before menti- 
oned, that this {mall tube has no communica~ 
tion with the faffron-coloured veffels. 
When the poifon-bladder is put into my 
balfam, it is fometimes tinged with a purple- 
colour or rednefs. I likewife have feen it green, 
in the Hornet. And we mutt further obferve, 
that the poifon-bladder in Bees, as I have often 
obferved, is not contracted in a globular form, 
like the urinary bladder in the human {pecies : 
fo far from it, that its fides are like two planes 
prefled together. This may be feen if you cut 
off the Bee’s wings, and then greatly irritate or 
provoke the creature; for then it will, in re- 
venge, throw its poifon out of the fting, being 
every moment eager to ftrike and wound, 
Let us proceed. The fting then, as I have. 
fhewn, is fituated under the rings of the pof- 
ternal parts of the body, and is there moved in 
and out by the help of certain mufcles; and 
as thefe mufcles. are affixed to fome horny or 
bony little parts, I fhall therefore briefly def-: 
cribe thefe parts. . There are chiefly fix princi- 
pal little parts, together with two others lefs: 
confpicuous. The legs or fhanks of the fting 
are articulated with thefe horny or bony little 
parts, which are likewife joined with each 
other, fo that by means of this ftructure they 
may be moved in and out, and up and down, 
and on either fide. This motion is performed 
by the force of the mufcular parts, which I 
find to be eight in number, four very manifeft, 
but the reft lefs confpicuous. The horny or 
bony parts, and even the fhanks of the fting, 
are inferted in all thefe mufcles. Two of the 
mu{cles,’ which are fomewhat lefs confpicuous, 
encompafs or furround that fide of the fling 
which is the thickeft, being connected with 
the cafe or fheath. There is likewife a {mall 
horny or bony part there, conftructed or formed 
in the fame manner as the little bone in Birds, 
called the perfpicillum, which is properly pro= 
duced or originated from the collar-bones con+ 
creted together. This little part is particularly 
articulated, and by the help of its mufcles 
feems to move the fheath or cafe of the ftin 
regularly outward. 9} 
I fhall now defcribe the thanks of the fting, 
and fhew that it is not a fimple but compound 
part; that it confifts of two fhanks, and a fheath 
wherein the fhanks are kept, like two fwords 
in one fcabbard. Thefe thanks of the fting 
are not conftructed in the manner of the crura 
of the penis or clitoris, which arife each from 
a diftinét place, and at length meet and confti- 
tute one body; for the fhanks of the fting con- 
tinue all the way diftin& from each other, 
though 
