176 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the body is in a horizontal position, but is connected only by a 

 minute articulation on the lower part of its base, so as to admit 

 of free motion and great flexibility. The antennas are black 

 above, becoming dusky toward t4ie tips ; beneath, the first joint 

 whitish, the next darker, tlie third partially black, and the 

 remainder fulvous. The head is whitish in front, marked with 

 a distinct black T ; above this a square white spot between the 

 eyes, which are also indented with white, and a small oblique 

 black patch running backward from the base of each eye ; on 

 the vertex and beliind the head is black, a broad yellowish 

 white band beginning above the base of the mandibles, bound- 

 ing the eyes behind ; thorax black, with a narrow whitish collar 

 sending out two diverging whitish stripes to the base of the 

 wings ; tegulae whitish at base, black and reddish at tip ; below 

 the base of the wings on each side a large sub-triangular 

 whitish spot ; abdomen black above, except the three last seg- 

 ments, which are whitish behind with black sutures, and inden- 

 tations in front, and a longitudinal black line down the middle. 

 It is from .65 to .75 in length. 



This and the common " yellow jacket," Vespa vul^aris^ are 

 often seen employed in catching flies and other insects, and in 

 some parts of the country the large grey nest of a society is 

 suspended in the house for the purpose of clearing it of flies. 



The genus Eumenes of Latreille, noted as feeding its young 

 on canker-worms and similar geometric larvae, the genera, 

 Beittbex, (a spinning-top,) and Crabro of Fabricius, and 

 Odynerus of Latreille, (from the Greek, meaning painful,) 

 are among the most useful of our insect destroyers ; and 

 although many are guilty of pilfering sweets and nibbling fruit 

 at times, beside being capable of inflicting painful wounds on 

 human beings when molested, they should nevertlioless be 

 placed in the beneficial class. 



The Order Hemiptera, containing the bugs, plant-lice, cicadas, 

 tree-hoj)pers, and other insects furnished with a short jointed 

 sucking-tube in place of jaws or mandibles, presents a great 

 variety of forms, and modifications of character. It is usually 

 divided into two sub-orders ; the one which includes those 

 species having the fore-wings distinctly stiff and hard on the 

 basal part, and membvanous and flexible on the apical extremity, 

 is called HETERuriERA from the Greek signifying other, or 



