428 



INSECTA. 



powerful and venomous sting. Several of them form communities composed 

 of the three sorts of individuals. 



The larvae are vermiform, destitute of feet, and enclosed separately in a cell 

 where they sometimes live on the bodies of insects placed there by the mother 

 at the time she deposited the egg, and sometimes on the nectar of flowers, 

 juices of fruits and animal matters, elaborated in the stomach of the mother, 

 or that of the neuters, who feed them daily. 



Wasps properly so called, unite in numerous societies composed of males, 

 females, and neuters. The two last detach particles of old wood or bark with 

 their mandibles, moisten and reduce them into a pultaceous mass resembling 

 that of paper or pasteboard, and construct combs or nests with it that are 

 usually horizontal, and suspended above by one or more pedicles ; on the 

 inferior side is a range of vertical cells in the form of hexagonal and truncated 

 pyramids. These cells are appropriated exclusively to the use of the larva- 

 and nymphs, a cell to each. The number of combs that compose this nest 

 varies. It is sometimes exposed, and at others surrounded by an envelope, 

 pierced with a common and almost always central opening, which sometimes 

 corresponds to a series of holes which communicate with the interior ; the 

 combs adhere to the parietes of the envelope, whether they be in the open air 

 or concealed in the earth or hollows of trees. The figure of these structures 

 varies according to the species. 



The females commence the business alone, and lay eggs that produce neuters 

 or labourers, which assist in enlarging the nest and taking care of the suc- 

 ceeding young ones. The community is solely composed of these two kinds of 

 individuals until the beginning of autumn, at which period the young males 

 and females make their appearance. All the larva: and nymphs which cannot 

 complete their ultimate metamorphosis before the month of November are put 

 to death and dragged from their cells by the labourers, which perish along with 

 the males on the approach of winter. Some of the females survive, and in the 

 spring become the founders of a new colony. 



Wasps feed on insects, viands of various -sorts, or fruit, and nourish their 

 larva- with the juices of these substances. The latter, which on account of the 

 inferior situation of the mouths of their cells are placed with their head down- 

 wards, shut themselves up and spin a cocoon when about to become nymphs. 



FAMILY IV. 



ANTHOPHILA, LatreHle*. 



THE fourth and last family of the Aculeata, in the faculty of collecting the 

 pollen of flowers, usually possessed by the two posterior legs, presents a pecu- 

 liar character which distinguishes it from all other families of insects. The 



* Lovers of flowers. 



