144 



SCHOOL ENTOMOLOGY 



menoptera it must be understood that there are man> 

 forms in the group which do not sting or possess stinging 

 organs. All the members of this division, except two little 

 known and rather rare families, are placed in four super- 

 families, each one including several families. They will be 

 considered here under the super-family headings. 



ST.Apoidea. This 

 group includes all the 

 Bees. There are sev- 

 eral families, but they 

 have many charac- 

 ters in common. Bees 

 may almost always be 

 recognized as such, 

 even by the beginner, 

 by the conformation 



of the body. In ad- 

 FIG. 107. Cocoons of the Bee-moth in . . 



the Top of a Hive (Lepidopiera, Pyra- dition to this, most 

 lidind). of them have the basal 



segment of the hind 



tarsus flattened and armed with hairs and bristles, 

 and adapted for carrying pollen. Bees are generally 

 stouter bodied than the wasps and are frequently hairy. 

 The bodies are commonly more flattened than is the 

 case with the wasps. The habits of bees vary consider- 

 ably. Many are social, but a much larger number of 

 species is solitary in habit. Most bees feed on pollen 

 and nectar secured from flowers, and on such other sweet 

 substances as they may find. 



The most common of the social bees is the hive-bee 

 or Honey-bee (Apis mellifera), which occurs throughout the 

 civilized world in a domesticated condition. Its habits 

 and social organization have been more widely studied 



