182 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
detached from its sheath. %g.16. represents the same parts, but 
seen from beneath. £%g.17. exhibits the sting detached, including 
the two spicule iz situ. Fig.18. is the sting, or rather the chan- 
nelled dart, grooved beneath for the reception of ( figs. 19. and 20.) the 
two spicule, separated from the dart, and retro-serrated at the tip. 
The lettering of these parts being the same throughout, and corre- 
sponding with the letters explaining the figures of the same parts in 
the preceding families, will clearly show the analogies between the 
sting and the ovipositor. Latreille (Gen. Cr. tom. iv. p. 51.) and St. 
Fargeau (Hist. Nat. Hym. p. 80.) expressly state that the eggs are 
not excluded by the sting, and that this organ is only composed of two 
setae, one being inclosed in the other; had they, however, consulted 
Swammerdam’s 18th and 19th plates, they would have perceived that, 
in both these respects, they had fallen into error. Indeed, when it is 
remembered that the ovipositor or terebra is but the external outlet 
of the ovaries and oviduct in the preceding tribes, and that the ana- 
logies between it and the true sting are unquestionable, as now illus- 
trated in my various figures, we are, as it seems to me, warranted in 
considering that the eggs do pass through the sting in the act of ovi- 
position; and this, indeed, is expressly asserted by Dr. Bevan ( Honey 
Bee, p. 319. 2d edit.). Hence the account given of this operation by 
St. Fargeau (Hist. Nat. p.90.), and considered by him as the chief 
ground for the primary division of the Hymenoptera, cannot be cor- 
rect. ‘La ponte n’a point d’organe extérieur et visible; l’anus de la 
femelle est susceptible de s’ouvrir largement; lors de cette ouvert- 
ure, il laisse apercevoir un large cavité, au fond de laquelle est un 
orifice, qui est celui de l’oviducte. L’ceuf sorti de l’oviducte par 
cet orifice, tombe dans la cavité anale (figurée par Réaumur, tom. v. 
pl. 29. f.1.); et celle-ci s’ouvrant, le laisse glisser le plus souvent a 
la place,” &c. It appears to me that the whole account here given of 
this operation is gratuitous. ‘The orifice at the bottom of the anal 
cavity, considered as that of the oviduct, has, as far as I can ascertain, 
no existence but in the theory of St. Fargeau. I can find no notice 
taken of it by Swammerdam and Réaumur ; indeed, the latter copies 
the figure given by the former of the internal organs of the female. 
The antenne are almost invariably simple, and, with very few ex- 
ceptions, are formed of thirteen joints in the males (fig. 81. 13, 14.), 
and twelve in the females (fig. 81.8.); the palpi are filiform, the 
maxillary having ordinarily six, and the labial four, joints ; but these 
numbers vary in the tribes of bees andants. All the wings are veined, 
