The following article, by Dr Harry Riches, former member of IBRA Council, elaborates on the lecture given at the Devon Beekeepers' Associationl IBRA meeting at Seale-Hayne Agricultural College last year. Dr Harry Riches, currently President of the British Beekeepers' Association, is Senior Consultant Physician at Harefield Hospital, UK. He is the author of mmiy articles on allergy to bee venom, including Hypersensitivity to bee venom, published in Bee World 1982