HYMENOPTERA. 73 
If interesting habits and economy, great development of instinctive 
powers and social qualities, be considered as indicating superiority in 
their possessors, the insects composing the order Hymenoptera have 
certainly far greater claims to be placed in the foremost ranks of the 
insect tribes than any of their brethren. The bee, the wasp, the 
ant, the saw-fly, the gall-fly, and the ichneumon-fly, all belonging to this 
order, have attracted the attention of the observer of nature from the 
earliest period. 
As an order, these insects are distinguished by: the number, com- 
parative size and structure of the wings, the mandibulated mouth, 
enclosing alabium ensheathed by the maxilla, the ovipositor, or sting, 
with which the females are provided, and the nature of their metamor- 
phoses. 
The eyes are generally large and lateral, occasionally occupying, in 
the males of certain groups, the greatest portion of the head: they 

Christius, J. L. Naturg. Klassifie. und Nomencl. der Insekt. vom Bienen, &c. 
4to. Frankf. a. M. 1791. 
Harris, M. An Exposition of Engl. Insects, fol. Lond. 1781. 
Fallen. Specimen novam Hymenoptera Disp. Method. exhibens. Lunde, 1814, 
4to. 
Klug, in Der Gesellsch. Naturforsch. Freunde zu Berlin Magaz., vol. 1. p. 2. 4. 
— Ditto, Vergleichung der Piezata Fab., und Hymenoptera Jurine (in Ilig. 
Mag., vol. vi.). 
Saint Fargeau. Hist. Natur. des Insectes Hyménopteres, tom. i. Paris, 1836, 8vo. ; 
and in Encycl. Méthodique, tom. x. 4to. 
Illiger, in Magazin der Entomol., vol. ii. ; and in Hellwig’s edition of Rossi. 
Dahlbom. Exercitationes Hymenopterologice, part 1—5. Lund. 1831-33. — Ditto, 
Clavis Novi Hymenopt. System. adject. Synops. Larvarum. Lund. 1835, 
4to. — Ditto, Prodromus Hymenopt. Seandinay. Lund. 1836. 
Zetterstedt. Insecta Lapponica, small fol. 1837. 
Bulletin Moscow, tom. ix. p. 431. Description d’ Hyménopt. tant nouveaux que 
connus. 
Latreille. Nouv. Observ. sur la maniére dont plusieurs Ins. Hyménoptéres pour- 
voient a la Subsistance de Jeur Postérité, in Ann. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat. 1809, 
tom. xiv. 
Savigny. Description de l’ Egypte. 
Say. North American Hymenoptera, in the Contributions of the Maclurian Ly- 
ceum, vol. i. Jan. 1829, p. 67. Ditto, in the Journal of the Natural History 
Society of Boston, vol. ii. 1837. Ditto, in Godman’s Western Reporter, 1823. 
Waltl. Reise nach Tyrol. (Hymenopt. by Klug). 
Haliday, in Trans. Linn, Soc., vol. xvii. ( Description of American Hymenoptera. ) 
Westwood, in Proceedings of Zool. Soc., April and May, 1835; and the general 
works of Linneus, Fabricius, De Geer, Rossi (ditto edit. by Illiger), Olivier 
(Encycl. Méth.), Walckenaer, Panzer, Schrank, Klug, Curtis, Stephens. 
