xliv 
Commencing with the Tenthredinide, as “ amongst the lowest 
of Hymenoptera,” exhibiting the simplest instincts in their mode 
of oviposition on the plant upon which they themselves subsist ; 
he passes on to the Cynipide, where we meet with a new mode 
of life, their incision giving rise to the well-known galls; after 
which, proceeding to the “insect-piercing species,” he considers 
that “this passage from phytophagous to carnivorous habits has 
not only led to the formation of many new species, but also to a 
greater complexity in the relation of the parents to their young, 
and to a higher intellectual development, which is shown espe- 
cially in the arrangements made for the nourishment of the larve; 
since it requires both greater energy and more intelligence to 
discover and attack a particular species of insect than merely 
to lay an egg on the plant which has served the mother herself 
for nourishment,” the passage from the one to the other having, 
as he conceives, “ been slow and gradual ;” and, ‘ on the basis of 
this increased energy, intelligence, and adaptability,” a still 
further advance was made by other groups, which, to secure their 
eggs from molestation, transport their victims to a place of 
security, involving certain difficulties with which many may have 
found it impossible to cope. ‘‘ Thus the ovipositor of the Ten- 
thredo became the sting of the wasp; and thus those species 
which carried off their victim to a place of concealment would 
abandon the habit of laying their eggs inside the victim.” 
But the Tenthredinide can in nowise be regarded as inferior 
in intellectual capacity to the Cynipidze, which exercise no con- 
structive ingenuity in the production of their gall-tenements, as 
exhibited by some of the former in the weaving of their reticulated 
cocoons and other artistic performances; while the admirable 
construction of their double-saws, whose “ various modifications 
might furnish ideas for improved mechanical instruments,’* their 
multicellular wings, and, in some instances, highly developed 
furcate and pectinate antenne (Schyzocerus male, Lophyrus male) 
stamp them as infinitely superior in structural organisation to 
the Cynipide. Yet the natural affinities of these respective 
families prescribe their relative sequence and precedence in 
inverse ratio to their faculties and endowments. 
As regards the “‘ insect-piercing species,” their restrictive action 
* Westwood, Introd. Mod. Classif., vol.ii., 94, Kirby and Spence, Introd. to 
Entom., vol. iv., p. 160 (5th Edition). 
