ENTOMOLOGY IN OUTLINE — HYMENOPTERA. 117 



other benefits they render us. Were it not for their labors in this 

 direction, aided by other insects, true, and perhaps to some extent by 

 other means, it is not improbable that a very large part of the veg- 

 etable world would perish and man and other members of the animal 

 kingdom suffer correspondingly. A cursory glance at the various 

 families comprising this suborder is, therefore, all that is required in 

 this place. 



The family Peleeinidse is a very small one, in which the distinguish- 

 ing peculiarity is the great length of the abdomen in the female. 



The family Chrysididse, better known as the cuckoo-fiies, have the 

 habit of the bird after which they are named, of laying their eggs in the 

 nests of other wasps and leaving them to be fed by the owner of the nest. 

 As the larva develops, it either turns out the proper occupant of the 

 cell or devours it. They are beautiful insects, the body being a brilliant 

 metallic green. 



Superfamily Formicina. (Ants.) 



The ants have been erected into a superfamily called Formicina, and 

 this superfamily is divided again into three families: the Formicidse, 

 Poneridse, and Mypmieidse. Ants are so distinct from all other insects, 

 and so well known to most people, that no description is needed here. 

 There is but one other class of insects likely to be mistaken for them, 

 the Termites, which are not ants at all, although called "white ants." 

 These do not at all resemble ants in appearance, either in form or in 

 color, but being communistic insects have somewhat the habits of ants 

 in this regard. Termites resemble ants in the fact that they congregate 

 together in immense numbers, and are divided into different classes, 

 each class having separate and well-defined duties to perform in the 

 community. Aside from this their habits are entirely different. 



All the species of ants are composed of three classes of individuals: 

 males, females and neuters, or workers, which latter are really undevel- 

 oped females. All ants live in communities of greater or less extent, 

 and in some cases these colonies are exceedingly populous By what 

 system of laws these densely populated communities are governed is 

 unknown, but it is known that each class performs its appointed duties 

 without let or hindrance and that all move smoothly and harmoniously. 

 The workers perform all the work of the colony, and their numbers 

 exceed the other classes many times over. There are usually several 

 perfect females whose sole duty is to maintain the strength of the 

 colony, and for a short time during the earlj'' summer a great number 

 of young females and males are produced. These quit the nest togetlier, 

 never to return. They are the ones which found new colonies, and out 



