Suppose the bee stung in the rear of the corselet and paralysed.

It is deprived of locomotion, but not of vitality.

The digestive apparatus, in particular, retains in full, or at least in part, its normal energies, as is proved by the frequent dejections of paralysed victims so long as the intestine is not emptied; a fact notably exemplified by the victims of the Sphex family; helpless creatures which I have before now kept alive for forty days with the aid of a little sugared water.

Well! without therapeutic means, without emetics or stomach-pumps, how is a stomach intact and in good order to be persuaded to yield up its contents?
That of the bee, jealous of its treasure, will lend itself to such treatment less readily than another.

Paralysed, the creature is inert; but there are always internal energies and organic resistances which will not yield to the pressure of the manipulator.