86 



INSECT LIFE. 



with no transverse veins. The hind wings are smallet 

 than the fore wings. The mouth-parts are formed for 

 biting and sucking. The abdomen hi the female is 

 usually furnished with a sting, piercer, or saw. The 

 metam.orphosis is complete. 



The bees, wasps, and ants are among the better- 

 known insects, and will serve to give an idea of the 

 characteristic appearance of 

 the members of this order. 

 They are chiefly insects of 

 small or moderate size, and 

 many of them abound wher- 

 ever flowers bloom. From the 

 earliest times they have been 

 favorites with students of the 

 habits of animals, for among them we find the most 

 wonderful developments of instinctive powers. Many 

 volumes have been written regarding their ways, 

 and much remains to be discovered, even concerning 

 our most common species. 



The name of the order is from two Greek words : 

 hymen, membrane, a^nd pteron, a wing. It refers to the 

 fact that the wings are of a delicate membranous tex- 



FiG. 80. — An ichneumon-fly. 



Fig. 81. — An ensign-fly. 



Fig. 82. — A digger-wasp. 



ture ; but this characteristic is not distinctive, for it 

 is possessed by the wings of many other insects. 

 Figs. 80, 81, and 82 represent members of this order. 



