Lenny Gentile, age 11, of Stratford, Conn., for his question:

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A BEE STINGS YOU?

When a bee stings you, sudden pain is felt in your body because a poison has been injected that produces both pain and swelling. If you are stung by a bee, scrape the stinger off immediately. Do not pinch or squeeze the stinger. Scraping reduces the amount of poison that enters the wound.

Some people are so sensitive to bee stings that a doctor must treat them quickly.

The stinger of a worker bee is straight, with barbs or hooks on it. When the bee thrusts the sting into a person's body, the barbs hold tight and the stinger pulls out of the bee's body. A worker bee dies a few hours after losing its sting.

The queen bee has a smooth, curved sting which she uses only to kill other queens. Drones have no stings. A bee, by the way, requires the use of 22 different muscles to sting a person.