236 THE SPICULIFERA. 



are said to use it occasionally as a sting, this practice 

 appears to be by no means general ; and even when it 

 is resorted to, the pain produced appears to be entirely 

 due to the mechanical action of the organ. 



For an example of the first tribe of Terebrant 

 Hymenoptera we shall not have far to go, as during 

 the summer months we can scarcely walk in the 

 neighbourhood of growing plants without observing 

 some of its members flying lightly over the herbage 

 or amongst the branches of the bushes, or running 

 actively upon the leaves or twigs, and vibrating their 

 antennae in a curious fashion. One of the most abun- 

 dant species, and one which we can hardly fail to 

 meet with hovering amongst the twigs of lilacs and 

 other shrubs in the garden, or over the hedge-plants 

 by the way-side, is the Exetastes albiditarsis, a slender 

 insect of rather more than half an inch long, of a 

 black colour with red legs, and with the tips of the 

 hinder tarsi and a rather broad ring about the middle 

 of the antennae whitish. It has a rather broad head, 

 with a triangular face and large eyes, between which, 

 on the crown of the head, there are three large ocelli, 

 and from beneath these on the forehead spring a pair 

 of long slender antennae, composed of numerous joints., 

 of which the basal one is very much thicker than the 

 remainder. The head is united by a very slender 

 neck to the thorax, which is of large size and oblong 

 form, and gives attachment to six long legs, termi- 

 nated by long slender tarsi, and to two pairs of trans- 

 parent brownish wings, traversed by fine brown veins. 

 The first segment of the abdomen, by which that por- 

 tion of the body is attached to the back of the thorax 

 between the bases of the posterior legs, forms a slender 

 footstalk, behind which the abdomen increases in size, 



