214 The Ottawa Naturalist. [February 



The Bees belong to a very large order of insects known as 

 the Hymenoptera or membrane-winged insects. When wings 

 are present there are two pairs, with but few veins and having 

 the upper and lower wings on each side held together in flight 

 bv means of a series of hooks. 



The mouth parts are constructed both for biting and for 

 sucking, the tongue often being developed into a long organ 

 for lapping up nectar and other liquids. The mandibles of the 

 honey bee form useful little trowels by means of which the 

 wax is shaped into cells. The ovipositor of the females in the 

 Hymenoptera is remarkably modified according to its required 

 uses. Among the Ichneumon flies it is sometimes enormously 

 developed for placing the egg where the young grub will find 

 its food on hatching. In the genus Thalessa, two species of 

 which are not uncommon at Ottawa, these egg-laying organs 

 are upwards of three inches in length and can be driven down 

 through as manv inches of solid maple wood. Among the saw- 

 flies this organ is modified into a pair of saws, by means of 

 which the eggs are inserted into the tissues of leaves or of 

 stems; and, then again, among the bees and ants, as a sting 

 it becomes a weapon of defense and the eggs are passed out 

 close to the base instead of through the tip. 



It is not quite known what all the purposes are of the 

 poison injected by the stings of Hymenoptera. It is supposed 

 that it is of an antiseptic nature, and that a small quantity is 

 introduced by bees into honey before sealing up the cells, which 

 has the effect of preserving the honey from decay. It is 

 interesting to note that the stingless bees of the genus Melipona 

 make honey, but that this honey will not keep. Among several 

 of the Solitary wasps, the sting becomes a very important 

 instrument; for by its means the food of the young, which 

 consists entirely of other insects, is paralyzed and it has been 

 found that the venom of bees and wasps is chemically almost 

 identical in composition with chloroform; consequently, cater- 

 pillars or other insects stored away as food for the young wasps, 

 after having been stung, remain alive and fresh, but perfectly 

 sen.seless,for a long time. I have sometimes taken caterpillars 

 from sand wasps which had stung them and were dragging them 

 away to their nests, and these have remained almost without 

 motion, but evidently alive, for many days; they have even, 

 in one or two rare instances, gradually recovered so as to be 

 able to crawl awav. 



The stings, then, of wasps and bees, it may be remembered 

 are provided for useful purposes and not for stinging careless 

 and thoughtless people. There is no doubt that bees are much 



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