Cla.if! 3. Inxncta. Or'ler 5. Hymenoptem. 271 



5. True wasps (Vesparis), are characterised by geniculate antennae, reni- 

 form eyes, long and projecting mandibles ; the front wings are folded during rest. 

 Some of them are solitary forms, leading an existence like that of the Sand- wasps ; 

 others, among them the genus Vespa (Paper-wasps, Hornets), live in large or 

 small colonies, consisting of males, females, and workers (females with imperfect 

 sexual apparatus, but with wings), and buUd ingeniously constructed nests. 

 These consist of one or more horizontal combs, each composed of a number of 

 closely apposed prismatic hexagonal tubes closed at one end, the so-called cells, 

 which are aiTanged perpendicularly with the openings downwards, and are vised 

 as dweUings for the larvae and pupae ; the combs may be connected by shafts, 

 and the whole nest be surrounded by a loose or firm covering. The material 

 chiefly used for the nest is a mass formed of finely masticated wood or bark, 

 which, when dry, has the appearance of paper. The larvae are fed upon com- 

 minuted Insects. The whole population of the nest dies in the late autumn, with 

 the exception of the young fertilised females. They survive the winter, and in the 

 following spring found a new colony, the completion of which is accomplished 

 later by the workers to which they give rise ; the nest, which is often large, is. 

 thus the work of a single summer. 



6. Bees (Apiarix) axe usually very hairy, the antennae are geniculate, the 

 eyes not emarginate, the tongue elongate, the galeae and laciniae, and the labial 

 palps are often very long and flat ; the tibiae and tarsi of the hind legs are 

 usually broad. Some Bees form colonies of males, females, and winged workers 

 (sterile females); others are solitary. The Honey-bee {Apis imellifico) is a 

 colonial form, and there is only a single fertile female (the queen) in each nest ; 

 the hatching of a new female is a signal for a division of the colony, to form 

 a new swarm ; the Honey-bees build combs of the wax secreted by integumentary 

 glands upon the abdomen : the combs are arranged perpendicularly, and consist 

 of two layers of hexagonal horizontally placed cells, closed at one end, the 

 openings being laterally directed. The larvae from which fertile females arise, 

 live in special, large, roundish ceUs, situated at the edge of the comb ; the other 

 cells are used partly for the workers and male larvae, partly for the storage of 

 honey and pollen (bee-bread) ; the honey is carried to the hive in the ci-op, the 



Fig. 222. Heads of Honey-bees, a Queen, b worker, cmale. — ^After Eatzebnrg. 



pollen is kneaded up and carried in a depression of the tibiae, surrounded by hairs 

 (set*), the so-called "basket," which occurs only in the workers. The whole 

 colony survives the winter, and this without hibernating ; a fairly high tempera- 

 ture prevails in the nest. The male bees (drones) have very large eyes, and like 

 the queens are much larger than the workers; they develop from unfertilised 

 eggs. Closely allied to the Honey-bee is the Bumble-bee {Boinhns), which 

 forms small colonies, and lives in nests in holes in the ground ; each colony is 

 founded by a single large fertilised female which has survived the winter, and 

 when complete, is made up of a few large females, some smaller females which 

 only lay drone eggs, a number of workers, and males. Both fertile females and 



