HOW CAN AN "ACULEATE" BE 

 RECOGNIZED ? 



THIS is not an easy question to answer. We 

 cannot make hard and fast definitions which 

 will determine exactly what belongs to this group 

 and what to that ; there are always some inter- 

 mediate forms which present themselves and 

 make our classification unsatisfactory, but, I 

 think, for all purposes of practical observation 

 in the field we may say that if we find a creature 

 with four membranous wings, burrowing in the 

 ground or making a nest in any way, it is an 

 aculeate or stinger. Also, that if we find a hairy- 

 bodied insect with four clear wings collect- 

 ing pollen or sucking nectar from a flower it 

 is a bee. There are, of course, characters 

 by which the stinging groups can be known 

 almost for certain, but there is no single one 

 which can be given to recognize them by. 



