In the preparations for the final blow the extremity of the abdomen may of course touch here and there, at different points of the thorax or abdomen, but it never remains there, nor is the sting unsheathed, as may easily be seen.

Once the struggle has commenced the Philanthus is so absorbed in her operations that I can remove the glass cover and follow every detail of the drama with my magnifying-glass.
The invariable situation of the wound being proved, I bend back the head of the bee, so as to open the articulation.

I see under what we may call the chin of the bee a white spot, hardly a twenty-fifth of an inch square, where the horny integuments are lacking, and the fine skin is exposed uncovered.

It is there, always there, in that tiny defect in the bee's armour, that the sting is inserted.

Why is this point attacked rather than another?
Is it the only point that is vulnerable?
Stretch open the articulation of the corselet to the rear of the first pair of legs.