NATURAL HISTORY OF THE BEE. 



63 



the wings (generally four in number) of all insects, 

 belonging to the order, are of a thin kind of 

 membrane. \/ 



Notice the wing of a bee, and 

 you will see of what a thin and de- 

 licate, and yet strong, membrane it 

 is composed. 



But then, as this order of 

 Hymenoptera is very large, and 

 includes very different insects, al- 

 though they all have the same 

 membranous wings ; the whole 

 order (and it is the same with the 

 other orders) is subdivided again 

 into families, — each family being 

 distinguished by its own peculiar 

 character. 



Thus we have the family of 

 wasps, including all kinds of wasps ; and the family 

 of ants, including all the many kinds of ants ; and 

 then, amongst the others, the great Bee Family, 

 called Apidae, including all kinds of bees. 



But then, again, this great family of bees — and now 

 we must think only of this one family — includes so very 

 many different kinds, — there are such numbers of bees, 

 as was mentioned in a previous chapter, — that these 

 again, according to certain points of resemblance, are 

 put into divisions of their own, and are called genera. 



Thus we have the genus Apis (a bee), and the 

 genus Bombus (humble-bee), and many more. 



And then of each of these genera there are many 

 species. Thus of the genus Apis, with which we are 



Wing of a Bee. 



