A woman stung by a bee in her own kitchen was fortunate to have the antidote spray handy. The bee kept buzzing around dodging in and out of the electric iron, the accumulated letters and newspapers of the day, and hiding up in the tubular light. At least, it was said, a bee dies after stinging because its sting is barbed, and wounds it mortally when withdrawn after attack. The books were looked up to see if this was true and no more stinging was to be expected. Oracle (The Field Book of Country Queries) said flatly that the sting of the bumblebee differs, in that it is not barbed, and so can be withdrawn easily or used again, up to two or three times in quite a short period.
It goes on to lay down that there is a difference of opinion as to whether the sting of a bumble-bee or a honeybee is worse. It states that bumble-bees may be provoked to sting by unfavourable weather conditions - particularly, perhaps, as when a heat-wave breaks up in a thunderstorm (indeed a thundery rain came down a few minutes afterwards), but less was known about the venom of the same bumbles than about honey bees. In Britain, according to the Field book there are nineteen species of bumblebee and they vary in readiness to use their stings. Drone bumble-bees have no sting. While bumble-bees often bite their way into flowers, it is said, it is hardly possible for them to bite quickly through clothing. That depends, you may think, on what is meant by clothing. A summer dress for women?
In this case, anyway, the bumble just ran into the woman and stung her on the finger. She was fortunate to have the remedy near to hand. And, if you're going after one of them with a flyswat, the Field tells us that they have a certain ability to withstand crushing, due, possibly, to the thick hairs on their body! And did you remember that there are birds called bee-eaters? Mostly found in southern parts of Europe and the Middle East. A friend recently came across them in Majorca, maybe passing through, though there is an account of bee-eaters found actually nesting in Sussex. And it mentions how they deal with the sting.