504 THE LEPIDOPTERA. 



and possessing a powerful sting, with a very large poison-gland, becomes no despicable 

 foe to those who offend it, or whom it chooses to consider as foes. 



The nests of the Humble Bees are not permanent like those of the hive bee, but perish 

 during the winter, the only survivors being a few females, who are destined to found 

 fresh colonies in the succeeding year. 



The central figure of the plate represents the BANDED BEE, the species which is so 

 greatly in use in Egypt, and which is fed by being placed on board of barges, and trans- 

 ported down the Nile, so as to insure a bountiful supply of honey. The owners of the 

 hives pay a small sum to the owners of the boats, and, in return, their bees are carried 

 along the fertile stream during the honey season, and afterwards returned with full combs. 

 Payment is mostly in kind, thus insuring the proper fulfilment of the compact. 



For want of space, we are compelled to pass by many interesting Hymenoptera, such 

 as the Leaf-cutter Bees, the Wood-borers, and the Mason Bees, each of which creatures 

 would demand more space than can be given to the whole of the insects. 



Another species of Humble Bee is given at the lower part of the engraving on 

 page 462. The remaining figures represent two beetles, one belonging to the Dynastidse, 

 and given in order to show the remarkable doubly-forked projection of the head, and the 

 other, belonging to the Crioceridae, and represented on account of the astonishing de- 

 velopment of the hinder legs. It is nearly related to the beautiful little Donacia, so 

 common on aquatic plants, and is equally brilliant in its golden green armor. 



STREPSIPTERA. 



A VERY small, but very remarkable order now comes before our notice, the STREPSIP- 

 TERA, comprising insects of very minute proportions, all of which are parasitic upon the 

 bodies of different bees and wasps, five, and even six, having been discovered within a 

 single wasp. Their presence may generally be discovered by the peculiar swollen aspect 

 of the abdomen, and, in many cases, the heads of the parasites may be seen protruding 

 from between the segments. 



The name Strepsiptera signifies, literally, twisted wings, and is given to these creat- 

 ures because the front pair of wings are transformed into short and twisted appendages, 

 quite useless for flight or for defending the second pair of wings. These are almost dis- 

 proportionately large, membranous, and with a kind of milky look as the insect flies 

 through the air. The eye is composed of a very few lenses, in some species only fifteen 

 on each side, two or three thousand being the ordinary average among insects. The 

 antennae are of a remarkable form, branched and forked like the horns of a stag. The 

 thorax is enormously large, and the abdomen of very small size ; but as the creature 

 does not appear to take food during its life in the perfect state, this is of little moment. 

 Curiously enough, the larvae of these insects are themselves subject to internal parasites ; 

 and it is very possible that they, in their turn, may be infested by other creatures less 

 than itself, and equally disagreeable. 



LEPIDOPTERA. 



WE now come to an order in which are included the most beautiful of all insects, 

 namely, the Butterflies and Moths. On account of the feather-like scales with which 

 their wings are covered, and to which the exquisite coloring is due, they are technically 

 called Lepidoptera, or scale-winged insects. 



The wings are four in number, and it is occasionally found that the two pairs are con- 

 nected together by a strong bristle in one, and a hook-like appendage in the other, so 

 that the two wings of each side practically become one member, in a manner similar to the 

 formation of many hymenoptorous insects. Those species which take any nourishment 



