HYMENOPTERA. 205 



as in almost all the others. We frequently observe in the gardens of 

 France, on the leaves of various shrubs, a very small and active spe- 

 cies, the body of which is fulvous brown, and the antennae annulated 

 with white ; it appears to me to be new, or imperfectly described. 



ORDER IX. 



HYMENOPTERA *. 



In this family we still find four membranous and naked Avings, and 

 a mouth composed of mandibles, maxillae, and two lips ; but these 

 Avings, of which the superior are always largest, have fewer nervures 

 than those of the Neuroptera, and are not veined ; the abdomen of 

 the females is terminated by an ovipositor or sting. 



Besides their compound eyes they are all provided with three small 

 simple ones. Their antennae vary, not only according to the genus, 

 but even in the sexes of the same species ; generally, however, they 

 are filiform or setaceous. The maxillse and labium are usually 

 narrow, elongated, and fixed in a deep cavity of the head by long 

 muscles f , form a semitube inferiorly, are frequently folded up at 

 their extremity, and better adapted for the transmission of nutritious 

 fluids than for mastication ; in several they form a proboscis. The 

 ligula is membranous, cither Avidened at its extremity, or long and 

 filiform, having the pharynx at its anterior base, and being frequently 

 covered by a sort of sub-labrum or epi pharynx. They have four 

 palpi, tAVO maxillary, and tAVO labial. I'he thorax consists of three 

 united segments, of Avhich the anterior is very short, and the two last 

 are confounded in one J, The Avings are laid horizontally on the 

 body. The abdomen is most commonly suspended by a little thread 

 or pedicle to the posterior extremity of the thorax. The tarsi consist 

 of five entire joints, none of them being divided. The ovipositor 

 and sting § are generally composed of three long and slender pieces, 



*ThePiezata, Fab. 



f The mentum, here, participates in this general motion, while in the other tritu- 

 rating Insects it is fixed and immovable. 



X The metathorax, properly so called, is very short, forms but a simple superior 

 hoop, and is intimately united with the first segment of the abdomen, so that in 

 truth, the thorax, viewed from above, is composed of four segments, the second and 

 last of which are the largest ; in a great number, the latter presents two very distinct 

 stigmata. When the abdomen is pediculated, its second segment, always supposing 

 the preceding one to belong to it, is apparently the first. 



§ Both are formed on the same model. From the middle of the posterior and in- 

 ferior extremity of the abdomen proceed two laminae, each composed of two pieces, 

 sometimes valvular and serving as a sheath, and sometimes in the form of a stylet or 

 of palpi. Between them are two other pieces united in one, which compose the evi- 



