HYMENOPTERA. 591 



fSee the monograph of British Chrysides published by Shuckard in the Entomological Magazine, and the more 

 recent one of Klug, and Spinola's memoir in the French Entomological Society's Transactions, as well as Saint 

 Faigeau's, in the Memoires du Museum. 



The second section of the Hymenoptera, the Aculeata, differs from the first in wanting 

 a borer; a sting, composed of three pieces, which is concealed and retractile within the 

 abdomen, ordinarily replaces it in the females and in the neuters of such species as are 

 united in societies. Sometimes, as in some Ants, this sting does not exist, and the insect 

 defends itself by ejecting an acid liquid secreted in special reservoirs under the form 

 of glands. 



The Hymenoptera of this section have always the antennae simple, and composed of a con- 

 stant number of joints, namely, thirteen in the males and twelve in the females ; the palpi 

 are ordinarily filiform ; the maxillary palpi often longer, have six joints, and the labial four. 

 The mandibles are smaller, and often more toothed in the males than in the other individuals. 

 The abdomen, united to the thorax by a peduncle, or slender thread, is composed of seven 

 joints in the males and six in the females. The four wings are always veined, and offer the 

 different sorts of ordinary cells. 



The larvae have never any feet, and subsist upon food which the females or neuters provide 

 them with, consisting either of the dead bodies of insects, or the honey of flowers ; and in 

 some species of a mixture of pollen, stamens, and honey. 



This section is divided into four families, [Heterogyna, Fossores, Diploptera, and 

 Anthophila]. 



THE FIRST FAMILY OF THE ACULEATED HYMENOPTERA, 



The Heterogyna — 



Is composed of two or three kinds of individuals, of which the most common, or the neuters, or 

 females, have no wings, and rarely ocelU distinct. All of them have the antennae elbowed, and the 

 lower lip small, rounded, and vaulted or spoon-Uke. 



Some of these live in society, and present three kinds of individuals, of which the males and females 

 are winged, and tlie neuters wingless ; in the last two kind of individuals the antenns are thickened 

 to the tips, and the length of the basal joint is at least equal to one-third of their entire length ; the 

 second is nearly as long as the third, and in the form of a reversed cone. The upper hp of the 

 neuters is horny, and shuts perpendicularly beneath the mandibles. These Hymenoptera compose 

 the genus 



Formica, Linn, (or the Ants), — 



So celebrated for their foresight, and of which some are so well known for the injury they commit in 

 our gardens and the interior of our houses, where they attack saccharine matters, preserved viands, &c., 

 giving them a disagreeable scent of musk ; whilst others arc equally obnoxious to trees, by gnawing 

 the interior, in order to make for themselves a habitation where they may breed. 



The Ants have the peduncle of the abdomen like a scale or knot, either single or double, whereby 

 they are easily distinguished. They have the antennae elbowed, generally rather thicker at the tips ; 

 the head triangular, with the eyes oval or rounded, and entire ; the clypeus large ; the jaws very 

 strong in a great numl)er, but of which the form varies in the neuters ; the maxillae and labium are 

 small : the palpi filiform, those of the maxillae being longest ; the thorax compressed at the sides, and 

 the abdomen nearly oval, furnished in the females and workers either with a sting or with glands 

 situated near the anus, which secrete a peculiar acid, called formic iicid. 



They live in society, often of great extent, each species consisting of males and females, which have 

 wings wliich are much less veined than in the majority of this section, and which easily fall off; as 

 well as of neuters, which are destitute of wings, and which are only females with the ovaries imperfect. 

 The two former kind of individuals are only found temporarily in the Ants' nest, from which they 

 make their escape almost as soon as they have gained their wings. The males are much smaller in 

 size than the females, as are also their heads and mandibles, and the eyes larger. The union of the 



