HYMENOPTERA 



261 



biting, but may secondarily be developed for sucking, as in the 

 honey bee described on p. 245. The hind wings are smaller than 

 the fore wings, to which they are attached by hooks. There is 

 usually a distinct waist, which is between the first and second 

 abdominal segments, the former being fused to the metathorax. 

 The abdominal appendages include an ovipositor, which may 

 be modified as an instrument for stinging or boring. The larvae 

 are either legless or caterpillar-like, and the pupa is exarate. 

 Some families, such as the Ichneumonidse, have larvae which are 

 endoparasites of other insects. 



The most striking thing about the Hymenoptera is the social 



Fig. 193. — The Turnip Flea beetle {Haltica nemorum). — From Theobald. 



I, Adult, magnified ; 2, true length and wing expanse ; 3, adult feeding on leaf ; 4, egg, natural size ; 5, the 

 same magnified ; 6, 7, tunnel made by larva in leaf ; 8, 9, larva, natural size and magnified ; 10, 11, 

 natural size and magnified view 01 pupa, which lies in soil. 



This very destructive insect feeds, as larva and adult, on the leaves of turnips, cabbages, broccoli, 

 and other Cruciferae. It has many broods in the year, the last hibernating under stones, etc. Its worst 

 damage is done to seedlings. Paraffin, derris powder, and a mixture of soot and lime are remedies. 



organisation, which has been developed in several groups, and 

 which is paralleled elsewhere only in the termites (p. 249). Many 

 bees are solitary, but the hive or honey bee, Apis mellifica, has 

 one of the most elaborate social organisations in the order. It is 

 impossible to describe the life-history in the usual way, for new 

 colonies start, not with one individual, but with a large group, 

 and we must therefore begin by considering the structure of an 

 established community. This will consist of a fertile female or 

 queen, bearing in her spermatheca a supply of sperms, a number 

 of males or drones, and many thousands of sterile females or 

 workers. The chief external differences between these three castes 

 are shown in Fig. 194. The drones have no stings. The workers 

 have structures on the third legs called pollen baskets, and their 



