SOME FACTS ABOUT WASPS AND BEES. 315 



SOME FACTS ABOUT WASPS AND BEES. 



By Dr. E. W. SHUFELDT. 



ONE of the most extensive and at the same time one of the 

 most interesting groups of insects in the entire range of 

 entomology is that order which has been created to contain the 

 ants, bees, and wasps with their numerous allies. This associa- 

 tion was called the Hymenoptera by Linnaeus, the name having 

 reference to the fact that the anterior and posterior wings of the 

 winged forms are, during flight, connected together by a row, 

 upon either side, of small hooks. This is Kirby's suggestion 

 (Text-book of Entomology, page 103), but it would seem more 

 probable that the word Hymenoptera was derived from the Greek 

 hymen, a membrane, and ptera, wings. 



Primarily, this order is divided into the Terehrantia and the 

 Aculeata. In the first named the ovipositor is employed as a 

 borer, while in the second it has become modified into a sting. 

 These two subsections are by various classifiers again divided 

 into several other divisions, and these again into families, genera, 

 etc., as in the case of other natural alliances of animals. Both 

 the habits and structure of the insects included in this group are 

 characterized by great variety, and the majority of its members 

 exhibit an extraordinary amount of intelligence, especially this 

 being true in the case of the ants and wasps. A perfect host of 

 parasitic insects also belong to this group, attacking both the 

 larvae and eggs of other insects. Were all the literature extant 

 that has been devoted to the ants alone got together, it would 

 form by no means a small library ; but such a library would be 

 completely overshadowed were it compared with a similar one 

 collected in the case of bees. Of the common honeybee alone, 

 Mr. John Hunter, the late Secretary of the British Bee Keepers' 

 Association, has said : " No nation upon earth has had so many 

 historians as this remarkable class of insects. The patience and 

 sagacity of the naturalist have had an ample field for exercise in 

 the study of the structure, physiology, and domestic economy of 

 bees ; their preservation and increase have been ob'jects of assidu- 

 ous care to the agriculturist; and their reputed perfection of 

 policy and government have long been the theme of admiration, 

 and have supplied copious materials for argument and allusion 

 to the poet and the moralist in every age. It is a subject that 

 has been celebrated by the Muse of Virgil and illustrated by the 

 philosophic genius of Aristotle. Cicero and Pliny record that 

 Aristomachus devoted sixty years to the study of these insects, 

 and Philiscus is said to have retired into a remote wood that he 

 might pursue his observations on them without interruption. A 



