108 CALIFORNIA STATE COMMISSION OP HORTICULTURE. 



Older HYMENOPTERA. 



(Bees, Wasps, Ants, Saw-flies, etc.) 



This, of all the orders, is the one which may be said to be wholly- 

 beneficial to man, for while, as 'there is a black sheep in every flock, 

 there are injurious species in the Hymenoptera, they are so largely the 

 exception to the rule that we may say that the order Hymenoptera is 

 the one wholly beneficial order of insects. In this order we find the 

 several species of honey-bees, which supply us with honey and wax; an 

 immense number of parasitic insects, which keep down any redundancy 

 on the part of the injurious species; and the ants, which act as scav- 

 engers. The whole of the wasp family are beneficial, for, in providing 

 for their young, the larger members stuff their cells with spiders, cater- 

 pillars, and other insects, and they are all predaceous in some form. 

 It is in this order, too, that we find the highest development of the 

 social instinct, for many of the species are so constituted that they can 

 not exist except in communities, and in these communities we find the 

 most perfect system of division of labor imaginable. With the social 

 bees, for instance, we have one mother bee, whose sole duty is to supply 

 the eggs from which the stock of workers is to be kept up; the drones, 

 or males, whose sole duty is to act as fathers of the hive; the third 

 class are the workers, and these are again divided into outside workers, 

 inside guards, nurses, and other classes, each of which has its special 

 duties to perform, and upon the proper performance of which the wel- 

 fare of the whole community depends — and they never fail in their 

 duty. In this order, too, we find the only class of insects which care 

 for their young. In all others the eggs are laid as it happens. Usually 

 instinct directs the female to choose a position which will supply food 

 for the young when hatched, but, this done, she is through with them 

 and gives them no more care. But in this order we have species which 

 diligently watch over the eggs, take charge of the young when hatched, 

 attend to them, feed them with proper food, and watch over them in 

 every stage of their growth until they have passed through all the 

 changes, entered the ranks of the mature workers and are ready, in 

 their turn, to perform the same duties for their successors. 



The name Hymenoptera is compounded of two Greek words, hymen, 

 membrane, and pterori, wing. The name is not altogether distinctive, 

 however, as all insects possessing membranous wings are not members 

 of this order, but all members of this order have four membranous 

 wings. A peculiarity of this order is that the hinder pair of wings are 

 provided with a series of hooks, with which they catch the fore wings, 

 and thus the two pairs are connected closely together. Another feature 

 is that Avliile in all other insects the mouth parts are made for either 

 biting or sucking, in this order they are so arranged as to be of use for 

 both purposes. 



