166 CLASSIFICATION OF HYMEXOPTERA. 



the thorax. During this part of their existence they take no 

 food. In their perfect state, these insects, for the most part, 

 take but little nourishment ; and this consists almost exclusively 

 of the nectar of flowers. Many of them, however, such as the 

 Wasps, attack and destroy other insects ; but these are often 

 destined, not for their own support, but for the nourishment of 

 the young. This Order is of considerable extent, being inferior 

 only to the Coleoptera ; and it has been estimated to contain 

 one-fourth part of the whole Insect population. It attains its 

 greatest development in warm climates ; for, of the numerous 

 species inhabiting this country, the greater part are of very small 

 size, and some are almost of even microscopic minuteness. None 

 of the species attain any great dimensions ; very few of them 

 exceeding, or even attaining, two inches in length, or three in 

 the expansion of their wings. The duration of their lives, from 

 the hatching of the egg to the final change, is believed never to 

 exceed a year. 



752. This Order may be primarily divided into two groups, 

 according to the nature of the organ in which the body of the 

 female terminates ; the end of the abdomen being prolonged, in 

 the TEREBRANTIA, into a saw or borer for the deposition of the 

 eggs ; whilst, in the ACULEATA, it is formed into a sting or 

 piercer connected with a poison -reservoir.* In the former group 

 the number of joints in the antennae is very variable ; whilst 

 in the latter, it is almost always twelve in the female, and thir- 

 teen in the male. The Terebrantia may be again divided into 

 the SECURIFERA, in which the abdomen is attached by its whole 

 breadth to the thorax, of which the larvse feed upon vegetable 

 matter; and the ENTOMOPHAGA, distinguished by having the 

 abdomen supported upon a foot-stalk, in which the larvae gen- 

 erally feed parasitically upon living insects. The Aculeata are 

 in like manner divided into the PR^EDONES, or predaceous tribes, 

 which do not collect pollen, and in which the larvae feed upon 



* The reader must bear in mind, however, that the sting and the ovipositor 

 are essentially the same organs ; the ovipositor of the Entomophagous Tere- 

 brantia, and the sting of the Aculeata, being almost identical in their construc- 



tion. 





