65 
Again insects may be found with four membranous transparent wings, as 
dragon flies (order Pseudoneuroptera) or cicadas (order Hemiptera), but in these 
orders the wings have a great number of nervures, or veins, forming a close net- 
work, and in all hemipterous species (bugs) the mouth is transformed into a pro- 
boscis, and lacks the mandibles or jaws common to Hymenoptera, and which are 
very apparent in large species like the bees. 
We are informed that the abdomen of the female is furnished with a saw 
ovipositor, a borer, or a sting, and the order can be roughly divided into three 
sections based upon these differences in the sexual organs. The first section may 
be styled Phyllophaga (leaf-feeders), and contains the well-known saw flies, the 
larvee of which are caterpillar-like and possessed of feet. The second section 
includes the Xylophaga (wood-feeders), generally known as horntails, the larvee 
of which infest the trunks of trees, and the Parasitica (parasites) to which beloug 
the long-stings and numerous allied forms. The third section Aculeata (sting. 
bearers) « contains the bees, wasps, ants, ete. 
Of the first and third sections as above indicated I have in former reports 
treated briefly, and I will now endeavor to outline the Parasitica, which consti- 
tute almost the entire second section, and which by reason of their great number 
and complexity of structure will make my task a difficult one to undertake in a 
single paper. 
The section Parasitica contains at least half of the described species of our 
Hymenoptera, and the number of undescribed forms must be very large, as many 
of them are extremely minute and require more careful collecting and study than 
many entomologists can devote to them. They are divided into several families, 
of which some contain a large number of genera and species, and which will be 
briefly treated of in systematic order. 
Cynipip#.—This family coutains a moderate number cf small species (often 
minute) and is divided into two sections, one containing three and the other two 
subfamilies. The species contained in the first section are in the larval state 
chiefly producers of galls, or dwellers therein, instead of being truly parasitic in 
their mode of life. There is reason to believe, however, that the few species 
which constitute the first subfamily (Ibaliinz) are true parasites upon the larvie 
ot wood-boring insects. The principal Canadian species is Lbalia maculipennis 
Hald., which occurs somewhat rarely on maple and beech. The structure of the 
insect is such as to attract attention, for though of moderate size (hardly three- 
fourths of an inch in length) it is still the largest of our Cynipide, and is easily 
distinguished by its strongly compressed or knife- shaped abdomen. Within the 
abdomen, which constitutes merely a sheath for it, is coiled a delicate ovipositor, 
much longer than the insect itself, with which it deposits its eggs in the decaying 
trunks of the beech and maple, where the larve when hatched probably exist 
upon other insects infesting the wood. 
The subfamily Cynipinze contains species producing galls upon plants. The 
trees most subject to their attacks are the various species of oak ; the galls occur- 
ring upon them and the insects produced therefrom being in themselves a suffi- 
cient study for an entomologist. Some of the galls, such as the oak-apple, are of 
enormous size as compared with the minute or ub which occupies the central cell 
therein, and which by some mysterious influence upon the growth of the plant 
structure causes this wonderful abnormal development. The various species of 
roses are also very liable to the attack of these insects, the galls chiefly occurring 
being large potato-shaped ones upon the roots, oval woody enlargements of the 
_ Stems and clusters of pea-shaped swellings fpon the leaves. Although various 
plants, including the raspberry and blackberry, are subject to these attacks there 
is not space to enumerate them here, 
5 (EN.) 
