ORDER VI. 



VEIN- WINGED INSECTS (IIYMENOPTERA). 



" QUANTO potius Deorum opera celebrare, quam Philippi 

 aut Alexandri latrocinia." This sentiment, uttered many 

 years ago by Seneca, " How much better it is to admire the 

 works of the gods, than the highway robberies of a Philip 

 or an Alexander !" has probably been repeated thousands of 

 times since by students of Natural History. Its truth has 

 been acknowledged and verified by the experience of sages 

 and philosophers in every age. But in no department of 

 Zoology has it been more often recognized and felt than in 

 the interesting order of insects we are about to describe. 

 The practical utility of many of the Hymenopterous insects, 

 their persevering industry, the wonderful ingenuity with 

 which they construct their artificial dwellings, the prudence 

 and economy with which they collect and store up food for 

 themselves and their offspring, have always rendered them 

 the objects of man's peculiar admiration and care ; and not- 

 withstanding, like many of our most worthy and benevolent 

 citizens, they make no show of beauty on parade, they have 

 always been regarded as the most practically interesting 

 and useful of all the insect tribes. 



The insects of the order Hymenoptera vary very much in 

 size ; some are smaller than a flea, while others measure, with 

 their ovipositor, full three inches. All are distinguished by 

 their four membranaceous wings, which are marked with 

 branching veins, and which are generally shorter and small- 

 er than those of the insects of the foregoing orders. The 

 body of the perfect insect is slender, with the exception of 



