28 BOMBAY NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY. 



3. Hymenoptera, or parchment-winged, i. e., Bees, wasps, ants. 



&c. 



4. Lepidoptera, or scaly-winged , i. e., Butterflies and moths. 



5. Hemiptera, or half-winged, e. e., Bugs, aphidas, &c. 

 C. Diptera, or two-winged, i. e., Flies. 



7. Aptera, or no- winged, i. e., Fleas. 



Though many changes and additions have since been proposed at 

 various times, yet the generally accepted classification now is the 

 same, in nomenclature at least, as that of Linnaeus, except that the 

 Aptera have been absorbed into the Diptera, and a new order, 

 Orthoptera, or straight-winged, has been added, immediatley follow- 

 ing the Coleoptera, to contain the grasshoppers, locusts, crickets, 

 cockroaches, Mantidce, Phasmldce, &c, which Linuaeus included, 

 along with the bugs, in his Hemiptera. 



Kirby estimates that out of 222,000 species of insects known as 

 inhabiting the world, the Hymenoptera comprise 31,000, rankingthird 

 on the list after Coleoptera with 97,000 and Lepidoptera with 45,000. 



The chief distinguishing characters of the Hijmenojytera are: — 



1. Four apparently naked wings, with few veins (hence the 



name from i^v^ parchment). 



2. Mouth furnished with both mandibles and a proboscis. 



3. Female furnished with an ovipositor often modified into 



a sting. 



4. Larva*, usually footless, pupae inactive. 



The Hymenoptera are primarily divided into two sub-orders, viz. :— 

 Terebrantia, in which the female is armed with an ovipositor. 

 Aculeata, in which the ovipositor is modified into a sting. 

 The Terebrantia are again sub-divided into two groups, viz : — 

 Pit y topi tag a, or vegetable eaters, 

 Entomophaga, or insect eaters. 

 The word " eaters," however, does not refer to the imago or perfect 

 insect, but to the larva or grub form. 



We may dismiss briefly the Terebrantia plujtophaga, which 

 comprise only two families, the Tcnthridinidce and Siricidce. In the 

 former the larvae feed exposed on the leaves of trees like the cater- 

 pillars of butterflies, while in the latter they bore in the wood. We 

 have no specimens of either in our collection. The Siricidai are 

 chiefly confined to Pine foi*ests, so we may well have none in Bombay, 

 but as regards the Tenthfidinidcv, though none have been found, it 

 does not follow that there are none. 



