HYMENOPTERA. 107 



HYMENOPTERA. 



The Bees, Wasps, Saw-flies, Ants, and other members of this 

 suborder differ from all other insects in having, in the higlier and 

 more typical forms, the basal joint of the abdomen thrown for- 

 ward upon and intimatel}' united with the thorax. The head 

 is large, Avith large compound eyes, and three ocelli. The 

 mouth-parts are well developed both for biting, and feeding on 

 the sweets of plants, the ligula especially, used in lapping- 

 nectar, being greatly developed. The other regions of the 

 body are more distinct than in other insects ; the wings are 

 small but powerful, with comparatively few and somewhat 

 irregular veins, adapted for powerful and long-sustained flights ; 

 and the genital appendages retracted, except in the Ichneu- 

 mon parasites and Saw-flies, within the body, are in the female 

 modified into a sting. 



The transformations of this suborder are the most complete 

 of all insects ; the larvaa in their general form are more unlike 

 the adult insects than in any other suborder, while the pupa^, 

 on the other hand, most clearly approximate to the imago. 

 The larvae are short, cjdindrical, footless (excepting the young 

 of the Saw-flies, the lowest family, which are provided with 

 abdominal legs like Lepidopterous larvae), worm-like grubs, 

 which are helpless, and have to be fed by the prevision of the 

 parent. The pupa has the limbs free, and is generally contained' 

 in a thin silken cocoon ; that of the Saw-flies, however, being 

 thick. 



The Hymenoptera exhibit, according to Professor Dana, the 

 normal size of the insect-type. "This archet^pie size is be- 



NOTE to page 100.— Ray divided the Hexapods into Coleopfera and Aneloptern, 

 the latter division embracing all the other suborders except the Coleoptera. His 

 Ametamorphota Hexajwda contained the wingless hexapoda; wliile the Avietamor- 

 plwta polypoda comprise the Myriopods, and the A. octopoda the Arachnids. Lin- 

 naeus' Aptera (with numerous feet) are equivalent to the I\Iyriopods,and his Aptera 

 (with S-14 feet) to the Arachnids. In Fabricius' system the Klentheratn are equiva- 

 lent to the Coleoptera ; the i7/o«a<« to the Orthoptera ; the Synisinta to the "Seurop- 

 tera; the I'iezata to the Hymenoptera; the Odonata to the Libeliulidaj; the Olossata 

 to the Lepidoptera; the lihyngota to the Hemiptera; the Antliata to the Diptera. 

 The Mitosnta are the Myriopods, and the Unogata, the Arachnids. In Latreille's 

 system the Suctorin, or Fleas, are now referred to the Diptera; ihe Parasita or 

 Lice, to the Hemiptera, and the Thijsanura to the Xeuroptera. 



