232 INSECTA. 
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entire and rounded at the end, and the posterior extremity of the 
thorax is furnished with a spine. In the second, or Curysis, Spin., 
there is but a single dentation on the same edge; the abdomen is 
more elongated, truncated at the end, and frequently a transverse 
range of large punctures at the same extremity. In this subdivision 
comes the most common species in Europe. 
C. ignita, L.; Panz., Faun. Insect. Germ., V, 22. Blue 
mixed with green; abdomen golden cupreous-red, and termi- 
nated by four dentations. 
Sometimes the thorax is narrowed before; the abdomen is almost 
ovoidal without being arched, and presents four segments in the 
females and five in the males. 
Cuiepres, /al., 
Where the mandibles are short and dentated. The ligula is en- 
tire *, 
The second section of the Hymenoptera, that of the ACULEATA, 
differs frcm the first in the absence of the ovipositor. A concealed 
and retractile sting composed of three pieces usually supplies the 
place of it in the females, and in the neuters of species which form 
communities. Sometimes, as in certain Ants, this sting is wanting, 
and the Insect defends itself by the ejaculation of an acid liquid con- 
tained in special glandular reservoirs +. 
The Hymenoptera of this section always have their antenne sim- 
ple, and composed of a constant number of joints, namely, of thirteen 
in the males, and twelve in the females. The palpi are generally 
filiform, those of the maxille, frequently the longest, having six 
joints, and those of the labium four. The mandibles are smaller, and 
frequently less dentated in the males than in the oppusite sex. ‘ The 
abdomen, united to the thorax by a thread or pedicle, is composed of 
seven rings in the males, and of six in the females. The four wings 
are always veined, and present the various sorts of ordinary cells. 
The larve are always destitute of feet, and feed on aliments pre- 
sented to them by the females or neuters, consisting either of the 
bodies of Insects, the juices of fruits, or a mixture of pollen, stamina 
and honey. 
This section is divided into four families. 
in which the metathorax presents a scutelliform projection, the head offers no de- 
pression, and where the simple eyes are arranged in a triangle, those on the sides 
being considerably distant from the ordinary eyes. 
* For all these divisions, see Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect., IV, p. 41, et seq. 
Améd., Lepeletier, Ann. du Mus. d’Hist. Nat.; Max., Spinola, Insect. Ligur; 
Jurine and Panzer on the Hymenoptera. 
+ For details relative to the organs which produce this venomous fluid, see the 
Mémoire sur les Abeilles of Reaumur, and that of M, Leon Dufour, quoted in our 
general observations upon the Insects of this order, 
