MICROSCOPIC OBJECTS. 73 



Fig. 145. The Common Wasp (Vespa vulgaris), natural size. 

 Order Hymenoptera. 



The order Hymenoptera includes most of the architectural 

 (or nest-building) insects, which are also noted for their great 

 intelligence. The chief structural characteristics of the order 

 are : " Wings four, when at rest lying horizontally upon the 

 body, membranous; posterior ones smaller, and with fewer 

 veins, and generally having a single row of hooks; maxillae 

 elongate, generally slender, sheathing the labium ; mandibles 

 two ; abdomen of the females almost always terminated by a 

 borer or a sting : metamorphosis complete." On referring 

 to fig. 147, the row of hooks mentioned in this description 

 will be seen in their natural position, as placed when the 

 wings are united. Bees, Wasps, Ants, Grail-insects, Sawflies, 

 Ichneumons, &c. all belong to this order. 



Wasps &c. may be mounted whole after prolonged mace- 

 ration in tolerably strong solution of potassa fusa, well wash- 

 ing, drying under strong pressure, and then mounting in 

 balsam. 



Fig. 146. Tongue of Sand- Bee (Andrsena melitta), x 20. 



This tongue has been taken to illustrate the general struc- 

 ture of the tongues of the Bees and Wasps. It is as well 

 adapted for suction as the proboscis or tongue of the Blow-Fly 

 (see fig. 151), though of a different form ; and it is also sup- 

 posed to be the chief instrument which the Bee uses in the 

 manufacture of her marvellous hexagonal cells. The Bee 

 having sucked up sufficient honey from the flowers with this 

 organ, returns the same to the mouth, whence the honey is 

 conveyed into the first stomach; part of it passes into the 

 abdomen, and is manufactured into wax; the rest, on the 

 arrival of the Bee at the hive, is deposited in a cell. The 

 appendages of this organ, viz. the maxillae and the labial palpi, 

 also greatly assist the tongue in performing these marvellous 

 duties. 



The ligula, or tongue, on being separated from the insect, 

 must be soaked for a short time in diluted potassa fusa, well 

 washed, dried under strong pressure, placed in turpentine 

 until transparent, and mounted in balsam. 



