The Koschevnikov gland is a gland

Gland

A gland is an organ in an animal's body that synthesizes a substance for release of substances such as hormones or breast milk, often into the bloodstream or into cavities inside the body or its outer surface .- Types :...

 of the honeybee. It is located near the sting shaft. The gland produces an alarm pheromone which is released when a bee stings. The pheromone contains more than 40 different compounds, including pentylacetate, butylacetate, 1-hexanol

1-Hexanol

1-Hexanol is an organic alcohol with a six-carbon chain and a condensed structural formula of CH35OH. This colorless liquid is slightly soluble in water, but miscible with ether and ethanol. Two additional straight chain isomers of 1-hexanol, 2-hexanol and 3-hexanol, exist, both of which...

, n-butanol

N-Butanol

n-Butanol or n-butyl alcohol or normal butanol is a primary alcohol with a 4-carbon structure and the molecular formula C4H9OH. Its isomers include isobutanol, 2-butanol, and tert-butanol...

, octanol

Octanol

Octanol is a straight chain fatty alcohol with eight carbon atoms and the molecular formula CH37OH. Although the term octanol usually refers exclusively to the primary alcohol 1-octanol, there are other less common isomers of octanol such as the secondary alcohols 2-octanol, 3-octanol and...

, hexylacetate, octylacetate and 2-nonanol

2-Nonanol

2-Nonanol is a simple alcohol. It has the odor of cucumber, and has been identified in oysters. It is used by several insects as pheromones. It is commercially available....

. These components have a low molar mass

Molar mass

Molar mass, symbol M, is a physical property of a given substance , namely its mass per amount of substance. The base SI unit for mass is the kilogram and that for amount of substance is the mole. Thus, the derived unit for molar mass is kg/mol...

and evaporate quickly. It is the least specific of all pheromones. The alarm pheromone is released when a honey bee stings another animal to attract other bees to attack as well. The release of the alarm pheromone may entice more bees to sting at the same location. Smoking the bees can reduce the effectiveness of the pheromone.