STINGERS AND PIERCERS. 513 



The young of all the stinging Hymenoptera are soft, 

 white, and maggot-shaped, and are without legs ; some of 

 those of the Piercers have the same form, but the others 

 more nearly resemble grubs and caterpillars, having a horny 

 head, and six jointed legs, and some of them numerous 

 fleshy prop-legs besides. The latter, when food fails them 

 in one place, are able to creep to another, and can look out 

 for themselves a proper place of shelter, wherein to go 

 through with their transformations. The others are ex- 

 ceedingly helpless, and depend wholly upon the instinctive 

 foresight of their parents, or the daily care of attentive 

 nurses, for their food and habitations. When fully grown, 

 nearly all of these young insects spin oblong oval cocoons, 

 wherein they change to chrysalids, and finally to winged 

 insects. A few, however, never obtain wings in the adult 

 state ; but these are mostly certain neuter and female ants, 

 the males of which possess wings. With the exception of 

 the white ants, belonging to another order, it is only 

 among Hymenopterous insects that we find certain indi- 

 viduals constantly barren, and hence called neuters. These 

 form the principal part of those communities of bees, of 

 wasps, and of ants, that unite in malting a habitation for 

 the whole swarm, and in providing a stock of provisions 

 for their own use, and for that of their helpless brood ; 

 and nearly or quite all the labor falls upon these industri- 

 ous neuters, whose care and affection for the young, which 

 they foster and shelter, could not be greater were they 

 their own offspring. 



Hymenopterous insects love the light of the sun; they 

 take wing only during the daytime, and remain at rest in 

 the night, and in dull and wet weather. They excel all 

 other insects in the number and variety of their instincts, 

 which are wonderfully displayed in the methods employed 

 by them in providing for the comfort and the future wants 

 of their offspring. In the introductory chapter some re- 

 marks have already been made on their habits and economy ; 

 65 



