254 



INSECT LIFE. 



THE BUTTERFLY.* 



Leafless, stemless, floating flower. 



From a rainbow's scattered bovver, 



Like a bubble of the air 



Blown by fairies, tell me where 



Seed or scion I may find 



Bearing blossoms of thy kind. — John B. Tabb. 



THE BEES, WASPS, AND DIGGER-WASPS. 



Throughout the summer and autumn the bees, 

 wasps, and digger-wasps abound on the blossoms of 

 roadside weeds. It requires some study and obser- 

 vation to distinguish these three groups of insects, 

 but the pupils should learn to do so. Specimens of 

 several species of each of these groups should be col- 

 lected, properly labeled, and placed in the collection. 

 All of these belong to the order Hymenoptera. 



THE BEES. 



The bees can be distinguished from all other Hy- 

 menoptera by the form of the basal segment of the 



hind tarsi (Fig. 230, c). 

 This segment is more or 

 less dilated, flattened, 

 usually hairy, and bears 

 an apparatus for collect- 

 ing and carrying pollen. 

 In some bees, however 

 — those that do not make 



Fig. 230.— Legs of insects: a, v/asp ; 3, nestS for thcmSClveS, but 

 ichneumon-fly ; c, bee ; /, trochan- i , . . , 



ter; w, metatarsus. lay their eggs in the 



* From Poems by John B. Tabb, by permission of Messrs. Copeland 

 and Day. 



