17 



CHAPTER II. 



GENERAL HISTORY OP BEES. 



THE Eea. — THE LAETA. — THE PUPA. — THE IJIAGO. 



Although the preceding pages have been written 

 upon the assumption that the reader knows what a bee 

 is, now that we are gradually approaching the more 

 special and technical portion of the subject it wUl be 

 desirable to conform a little to the ordinary usages of 

 scientific treatment. 



The bees constitute a family of the order Hymeno- 

 ptera, viz. insects ordinarily, but in the case of bees 

 always, with four transparent wings, which are variously 

 but partially traversed longitudinally and transversely 

 with threads, called nervures, supposed to be tubular, 

 the relative position of which, together with the areas 

 they enclose, called cells, help to give characters to the 

 genera. 



Most of the Hymenoptera further possess some kind 

 of an ovipositor, — of course restricted to the females, — 

 varying considerably in the different families. This is 

 sometime^ external, but is often seated within the apex 

 of the abdomen, whence it can be protruded for the 

 purpose of depositing the egg in its right nidus. In 

 our insect this organ is converted into a weapon of de- 







