434 INSECTA. 



a convex lid, they line the parietes of their domicile with a tissue of silk, spin 

 a cocoon, become nymphs, and, at the expiration of about twelve days, issue 

 forth in their perfect state. The labourers immediately clean out the vacant 

 cells, in order that they may be prepared for the reception of another egg. 

 This is not the case, however, with the royal cells ; they are destroyed and 

 new ones constructed if necessary. The eggs containing males are produced 

 two months later, and those producing females soon after the latter. 



Dreadful combats sometimes take place among bees. At a particular epoch 

 the labourers put the drones to death, extending the carnage even to the larvae 

 and nymphs of that sex. 



Bees have enemies both external and internal, and are subject to various 

 diseases. 



The true bees are only found in the eastern continent ; and those of southern 

 and eastern Europe, and of Egypt, differ from those that inhabit France, 

 which have been transported to America and other places, where they are now 

 naturalised. 



ORDER X. 



LEPIDOPTERA *. 



THE tenth order of insects terminates the series of those which arc 

 furnished with four wings, and presents characters exclusively peculiar to it 



Both sides of the wings are covered with small, coloured scales, resembling 

 farinaceous dust, that are removed by merely coming in contact with the 

 finger. A proboscis, to which the name of lingua or tongue has been affixed, 

 rolled spirally between two palpi, covered with scales or hairs, forms the most 

 important part of the mouth, and is the instrument with which these insects 

 extract the nectar from flowers, their only aliment. In our general observa- 

 tions upon the class of insects, we have seen, that this proboscis or trunk is 

 composed of two tubular threads, representing the maxillae, each bearing, near 

 its external base, a very small superior palpus in the form of a tubercle. 

 The apparent (inferior) palpi, those which form a sort of sheath to the 

 proboscis, replace the labial palpi of the triturating insects ; they are cylin- 

 drical or conical, usually turned up, composed of three joints, and inserted in 

 a fixed labium, which forms the paries of the portion of the buccal cavity, 

 inferior to the proboscis. Two little and scarcely distinct, corneous, and more 

 or less ciliated pieces, situated, one on each side, on the anterior and superior 

 margin of the front of the head, near the eyes, seem to be vestiges of mandi- 

 bles. Finally, we observe, and in equally small proportions, the labrum or 

 upper lip. 



The antenna vary and are always multi-articulated. Two ocelli are 

 observable in several species, but concealed between the scales. The three 



Scaly-winged. 



