SIT 7 



CHAPTER XVII. 



HYMENOPTERA. ACULEATA. 



THE true Wasps, solitary and social, form the third and 

 last division of the Predaceous Hymenoptera, Diploptera 

 (AfTrAow, diploo to double ; Trrtpbv, pteron wing) . As 

 this name indicates, the Wasps are distinguished by the 

 longitudinal folding, or doubling, of the fore-wing. The 

 eyes of Wasps are kidney- shaped, the tongue is cleft and 

 glandular at the tips ; the first and second pairs of legs 

 have one spine at the end of the tibiae ; the hind pair has 

 two spines. The claws are simple in the Social Wasps, 

 cleft in the Solitary, and the wings of all have three 

 submarginal cells. 



The first family, the Solitary Wasps, or Eumenidse, 

 form two genera, Eumenes and Odynerus. To the first 

 belongs only one British species, E. coarctata (PI. VIII., 

 fig. 3), which constructs upon the twigs of heath or 

 other shrubs, a small round nest of mud in which it 

 places a single egg, and a store of small caterpillars. 

 This Wasp is about half an inch long, the male smaller. 

 It may be distinguished from the Odyneri by the long 

 pear-shaped stalk by which its abdomen is attached to 

 the thorax. It is black with yellow spots and bands 

 about the face, thorax, abdomen, and legs. 



The second genus, Odynerus, contains twelve species 

 of various habits. Some burrow in sandbanks, others in 

 the pith of brambles, &c. : while others form their cells 



