HYMENOPTERA. 205 
as in almost all the others. We frequently observe in the gardens of 
France, on the leaves of various shrubs, a very small and active spe- 
cies, the body of which is fulvous brown, and the antenne annulated 
with white ; it appears to me to be new, or imperfectly described. 
ORDER IX. 
HYMENOPTERA *. 
In this family we still find four membranous and naked wings, and 
a mouth composed of mandibles, maxille, and two lips; but these 
wings, of which the superior are always largest, have fewer nervures 
than those of the Neuroptera, and are not veined; the abdomen of 
the females is terminated by an ovipositor or sting. 
Besides their compound eyes they are all provided with three small 
simple ones. Their antennz vary, not only according to the genus, 
but even in the sexes of the same species; generally, however, they 
are filiform or setaceous. The maxille and labium are usually 
narrow, elongated, and fixed in a deep cavity of the head by long 
muscles +, form a semitube inferiorly, are frequently folded up at 
their extremity, and better adapted for the transmission of nutritious 
fluids than for mastication ; in several they form a proboscis. The 
ligula is membranous, either widened at its extremity, or long and 
filiform, having the pharynx at its anterior base, and being frequently 
covered by a sort of sub-labrum or epipharynx. They have four 
palpi, two maxillary, and two labial. The thorax consists of three 
united segments, of which the anterior is very short, and the twe last 
are confounded in one{. The wings are laid horizontally on the 
body. The abdomen is most commonly suspended by a little thread 
or pedicle to the posterior extremity of the thorax. The tarsi consist 
of five entire joints, none of them being divided. The ovipositor 
and sting § are generally composed of three long and slender pieces, 
* The Piezata, Fab. 
+ The mentum, here, participates in this general motion, while in the other tritu- 
rating Insects it is fixed and immovable. 
+ The metathorax, properly so called, is very short, forms but a simple superior 
hoop, and is intimately united with the first segment of the abdomen, so that in 
truth, the thorax, viewed from above, is composed of four segments, the second and 
last of which are the largest; in a great number, the latter presents two very distinct 
stigmata. When the abdomen is pediculated, its second segment, always supposing 
the preceding one to belong to it, is apparently the first. 
§ Both are formed on the same model. From the middle of the posterior and in- 
ferior extremity of the abdomen proceed two laminz, each composed of two pieces, 
sometimes valvular and serving as a sheath, and sometimes in the form of a stylet or 
of palpi. Between them are two other pieces united in one, which compose the ovi- 
