52 SELECTED NOTES FROM 



represented. Lyonet's description of the saws of these insects 

 may perhaps be interesting, although, doubtless, not new to many 

 of our members. He says (p. i6o): — "At first sight the saw 

 appears to be all of one piece, but on closer examination it is 

 found to be composed of four parts — viz., two similar saws, the 

 cutting edges of which incline towards each other, and touch in 

 the same line, and in addition to these, of two stays of almost 

 the same size and shape as the saws, but only so in appearance, 

 the thin edges of which also touch one another. 



"The other edge of the stays is thicker and furnished through- 

 out its length with a sliding ridge slightly inclined, which runs in 

 a groove, also slightly inclined on the back of the saw, and 

 allows the latter to slide easily backward and forward without 

 becoming separated, in such a manner that when these four pieces 

 are placed together, they enclose a space through which an egg can 

 be slipped and introduced into an incision made by the saws." I 

 have not made a study of these insects myself, but I apprehend, 

 from the foregoing description, that a section . 



across the apparatus would present something ^^' ^' 



like the annexed diagram (Fig. 5), where sf. st. are 

 the stays, s.s. the saws, r.r. the sliding-ridges, g.g. 

 the grooves in the back of the saws, and e. an 

 egg passing down the i)assage formed by the 

 four inclined pieces. 



A. Hammond. 



Sting of Sand-Wasp differs widely from ovipositor of Saw-fly, 

 Aila?itus, although a modification of the same organ. The ovi- 

 positors differ wonderfully in different species, but when well 

 mounted all make very beautiful objects. 



C. F. George. 



Sting of Wasp. — Wcstwood (p. 181) says that the sting of the 

 Aculeate Hymenoptera " is composed of a slender, horny, acute 

 dart, channelled beneath and enclosing two spiculre, which are 

 retro-serrated at the tips, and connected at the base with a poison- 

 bag in both females and neuters, and also with the ovaries in the 

 females. 



"This organ is defended while at rest by a pair of lateral 

 plates articulated in the centre and forming together a kind of 



