CHAPTER I 



INTRODUCTION 



THE terms "bee' and "wasp" probably do not, 

 except to an entomologist, denote more than a very 

 small assemblage of insects. The honey-bee and 

 perhaps one or two species of bumble-bees on the 

 one hand, and the yellow and black banded insects 

 that cause such consternation at the breakfast table 

 on the other, represent for most of us the sum total 

 of personal acquaintance in this class of animals. 

 It is therefore necessary at the outset to explain 

 the sense in which we are here employing the two 

 words which constitute the title of this little 

 volume. 



There is one feature, and that fortunately and 

 not unnaturally impressed firmly on the popular 

 mind, which is possessed by no other insects except 

 the bees, wasps and their near relations the ants, 

 and by which they may therefore at once be distin- 

 guished. This feature is the possession by the female 

 of a sting furnished with a poison bag. Identification 

 by means of this test is however not entirely satis- 

 factory: in the first place the males cannot sting; 



L. B. W. 1 



