2 BEES AND WASPS [OH. 



secondly, the test is difficult of application to the 

 dead insect; thirdly, most of these stinging ("acu- 

 leate ") insects are unable to pierce the human skin 

 with their feeble weapon and so fail to give a con- 

 clusive answer to the question asked of them ; while, 

 fourthly, those provided with a sting sufficiently 

 powerful to gain entrance to our own dermis pro- 

 duce results so unpleasant as to deter any but the 

 most enthusiastic devotee from further enquiry in 

 the same direction. Our readers will therefore 

 pardon us, if, in order to save unnecessary pain 

 and disappointment, we now proceed to enumerate 

 a few of the more conspicuous structural characters 

 by which collectively these interesting insects may 

 be recognised and distinguished from others. 



The members of the great Order Hymenoptera 

 (membrane-winged), in which are also included the 

 saw-flies, gall-flies and ichneumon-flies, possess as a 

 rule four membranous and usually transparent wings 

 which are destitute of scales (contrast the Lepido- 

 ptera, butterflies and moths), and are of but moderate 

 size, the anterior pair being larger than the posterior 

 (contrast the beetles, grasshoppers, earwigs, etc.). 

 The areas, or "cells," into which the wings are marked 

 out by the nervures or veins are not regular in size 

 and shape, nor do they ever exceed twenty in the 

 front or fifteen in the hind wing (contrast dragon- 

 flies, may-flies, etc.). The disposition of the second 



