46 INSECTS. 



in some, but not in all cases, the four are of equal 

 size. 



For figures of Order IV., Neuroptera, see Plate F., 

 figs. 1,2, 3,4, 5. 



The large, hairy, moth-like wing of the Trichoptera 

 (rpi\itt)v, hairy ; irrtpov, wing) are the sign of another 

 order. It is not difficult to mistake the large brownish 

 or drab-coloured caddis fly, or " water-moth," as it is 

 called by anglers, for a true moth. The downy wings of 

 this are, however, clothed with simple hairs, instead of 

 the dust-like scales with which the wings of the moth are 

 covered, and very slight attention will prevent any mistake. 



For a figure of Trichoptera, see Plate V.,fi.g. 6. 



Next come the bees, wasps, ants, sawflies, and others. 

 These have four clear wings with fewer nerves than 

 those of the dragonfly, and which form fewer, or some- 

 times hardly any, meshes ; indeed, in the case of some 

 minute genera the wings are altogether without veins. 

 As then the name of a former order, Neuroptera, was 

 taken from the predominance of the nerves, so in the 

 naming of this, as the membrane predominates, the order 

 to which these insects belong is called Hymenoptera 

 (v/ir/f, a membrane; irrtpov, a wing). 



In the wings of this order we find mechanism as un- 

 expected as that in the wing of the cricket, though of a 

 different nature, and as an example we will take the 

 common hive bee, so well known to all. Most of us 

 know also the common " drone-fly," which so nearly 

 resembles it in size and form, and which we have seen 

 clustering by hundreds on the Michaelmas daisy in the 

 light of a November sun, making the whole air musical 

 with their merry hum, and the very sunlight brighter with 

 their glancing wings. It will be convenient to compare 



