ARTHROPODA. 251 



wax made by internal processes ( as in the honey bees) . 

 In these homes the young may be actively fed (as by the 

 ants), or the eggs may be laid directly in the secreted 

 food (as in the honey bee), or may be deposited in a cell 

 together with insects that have been stung and partly 

 paralyzed, on which the larva feeds (as in the case of the 

 solitary wasps) ; or they may be laid in the growing parts 

 of plants, where they form a gall and live on the juices 

 of the plant that are drawn to this actively growing 

 structure. A few types (ichneumon flies) lay their eggs 

 in the body of caterpillars where they develop and become 

 truly parasitic during the larval stage. They escape after 

 pupation and live their adult life independently. 



In the more complex colonies, such as those formed 

 by the honey bee and the ants, there are usually at least 

 three kinds of individuals. These include queens or 

 sexually perfect females who lay the eggs; males, often 

 drones; and workers, which are usually females that are 

 not sexually complete. In the ants the workers may be 

 differentiated into several types to whom different kinds 

 of work are intrusted. In addition to this some of the 

 ants have formed the habit of capturing the larvae of 

 other species of ants and rearing them as the slaves of 

 the colony. Aphides or plant-lice are held in a similar 

 way by some ants for the sweet secretion which they 

 produce. 



265. Less Important Orders of Insects. There are a number of 

 other orders of insects of which the student will find interesting illus- 

 trations, although the order as a whole is less important than those 

 we have mentioned. Among these is a group to which the beautiful 

 dragon-flies be'ong (Neuroptera). Related to these are the "white 

 ants" and the May-flies. 



The order Hemiptera (true bugs) include some of the worst pests 

 among the insects. Here are the plant-lice (aphides), the squash 



