CHAP. XII. CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS INTO FAMILIES. 65 



CHAPTER XII. 



CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS INTO FAMILIES. 



It is a tolerably well established fact that the members of any 

 given Family of insects, almost without exception, have simi- 

 lar habits; so that by being able to refer any insect to its 

 proper Family, we can usually tell whether it is an injurioua 

 or a beneficial insect, according to the habits of the other 

 insects which belong to the same Family. 



FAMILIES OF HYMENOPTEBA. ( Bees, Wasps, etc.) 



The following are the principal Families of this extensive 

 Order: 



BEES (Apidse). These insects have the antennae composed 

 of from twelve to thirteen joints; the tongue and other mouth- 

 parts are usually very long, and the posterior tibiae, and some- 

 times the basal joint of the posterior feet, are broad, and in 

 some species there is a bristly cavity on each posterior tibia, 

 in which these insects, such as the Honey-bees, carry pollen, 



etc., to their nests. 

 Some kinds construct 

 nests of mud; others 

 burrow into the stems 

 of plants, into soft or 

 decayed wood, or into 

 the ground, such as 

 the Bumble-bees (Fig. 

 180). A few kinds 

 line their nests with 

 pieces of green leaves, 

 such as the Leaf-cut- 

 ting Bee. The larvse 

 of a few species live parasitical in the nests of pollen-gathering; 

 Bees, arid subsist upon the food which had been stored up for 

 the young of the latter; on this account they are commonly 

 called "Cuckoo-bees." The larvse belonging to this Family 



Fig. 180. 



