Animal Life in Field and Garden

by Jean-Henri Fabre

“Therefore it is not one of the hymenoptera.”

“The grasshopper doesn’t hurt any one with its sword, does it?” asked Emile.

“No; it uses this tool simply for placing its eggs in the ground where they are to hatch. It is a sort of conveyor for the eggs, and is called a terebra. The saw, the blade, the cutlass, and other like implements that terminate the body of various insects have also this name. They serve to deposit the eggs in suitable places where the larvæ can find food. But this implement, dangerous though it looks, never stings when the insect is molested; it is not a defensive weapon. Only the honey-bee, the bumblebee, the wasp, and some others have for their defense a sting that inflicts a painful wound.”

“So painful,” Emile interrupted, “that I still remember how once, when I wanted to see what was going on in the beehive, I was stung by the bees.”

“The wasp’s sting is much worse,” remarked Louis. “When I was gathering the grapes last year [[346]]I took hold of a bunch where there were some wasps, and my hand was swollen all day and pained me so I should have cried if there had been nobody around.”

“How wonderful that such small creatures really hurt like that!” Jules exclaimed. “I should like to know why.”

“I will tell you. The sting of these insects is a slender lancet, hard and sharp-pointed, a kind of dagger finer than the finest needle. It is situated at the end of the abdomen. In repose it is not seen, being concealed in a sort of scabbard let into the creature’s body; but in time of danger it comes out of this scabbard. Now, it is not exactly the wound made by the sting that causes the smarting pain you know so well. This wound is so slight, so subtle, that we cannot see it, and we should hardly feel it if it were made by a needle or a thorn as fine as the sting. But the sting communicates with a venom-sac lodged in the insect’s body, and through a tiny channel running the length of the sting there is injected into the very heart of the wound a minute quantity of a highly dangerous liquid. After this injection the sting is withdrawn, while the venom remains in the wound; and that is what causes the pain.

“Learned men who have studied this curious subject relate the following experiment, which was performed in order to prove that it is the venomous liquid introduced into the wound, and not the wound itself, that causes the pain. When one pricks oneself [[347]]with a very fine needle the pain is of no consequence and passes almost immediately. Well, the prick of a needle, insignificant in itself, can be made very painful indeed if the little wound is poisoned with venom from a bee or a wasp. The learned men I just spoke of dipped the point of a needle into the bee’s venom-sac and with the needle thus moistened lightly pricked themselves. The pain that followed was severe and protracted, even severer and of longer duration than if the insect itself had stung the experimenters. This difference is to be explained by the fact that the needle, large in comparison with the insect’s sting, introduced into the wound much more venom than the sting itself could have conveyed. Now you understand, I hope, that it is the injection of the venom into the wound that causes all the mischief.”

“That is plain enough,” assented Jules.

“The bee’s sting is barbed,” continued Uncle Paul; “that is to say, it is furnished with teeth somewhat like those of a saw and pointing backward. In its haste to fly away after stinging, the bee does not always succeed, on account of these teeth, in drawing out the sting from the wound it has inflicted; and thus the sting is wrenched from the bee’s body, to the endangering of the insect’s life. The venom-sac is left behind also; it is that little white globule one sees outside the wound and at the base of the sting. If the person stung, hastening to extract the sting, is awkward enough to press on the little sac, a great part of the venom is likely to [[348]]be injected into the wound, with a corresponding increase of pain. This is a warning to you, whenever you are stung by a bee, to draw out the sting cautiously and to be careful not to press on the venom-sac.” [[349]]