754 



CLASS IV. INSECTA. 



upper surface may appear at first sight to be the under. These peculiar 

 Insects are, like the Streblidae, parasites on bats. Nycteribia. 



Order 22. HYMENOPTERA.* 



Four membranous wings with few nervures ; the anterior 

 abdominal segment fused or partly fused with the thorax, the 

 " waist " when present being behind this ; the females have an ovi- 

 positor which may or may not be retractile ; mandibles well de- 

 veloped. Metamor- 

 phosis com plet e : 

 the pupa has its 

 appendages free. 



The Hymenop- 

 tera include Bees, 

 Wasps, Ants, Saw- 

 flies, G a 1 1-fl i e s, 

 Ichneumo n - fl i e s, 

 etc., and in this 

 order the Insects, 

 and indeed the In- 

 vertebrata as a 

 whole, attain their 

 highest social and 

 psychical standard. 

 The head is free 

 and very mobile. 

 By a kind of dislo- 

 cation the p r o- 

 notum remains 

 fused with the rest 

 of the thorax, 

 whilst the other 



sclerites of the prothorax with the first pair of legs are 

 thrown a little forward and act largely in conjunction with the 



* Cameron, Brit. Phyt. Hym., Pay Soc., 1882-93. Fabre, Souvenirs 

 entomologiques, 3rd ser., 1886. Lubbock, Ants, Bees, Wasps, etc. Int. 

 Sci. Ser., 1882. Moggridge, Harvesting Ants, 1873. Andre, Spec. gen. 

 Hym., vi, 1896. Dalla Torre, Catalogus Hymenopterorum, Leipzig, 1892-6. 

 de Saussure, Monograph des Guepes sociales, Geneva, 1853-8. Forel, 

 Verh. Ges. deutsch. Naturf., Ixvi, 1894, and Ann. Soc. ent. Belgique, 

 xxxvii, 1893. Emery, Zool. Jahrb. Syst, viii. 189(5, p. 685. E. Saunders, 

 Hymenoptera Aculeata of the British Islands, London, 1896. 



FIG. 485. Stinging appaiatus of the honey bee from 

 the dorsal side (after Kraepelin). GD poison gland; 

 Gb poison reservoir ; D gland ; Str grooved piece 

 (director) ; Ba swollen base of the grooved piece ; B 

 curved root of the same ; W angular piece ; Sh sheath 

 of spine ; oblong plate ; Q quadratic plate ; Stb', 

 Stb" the two piercing spines on the ventral side of the 

 grooved piece. 



