HYMENIJPTERA : BEES. 



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the skin for the last time, and appear as perfect, or 

 adult, grasshoppers. Such Insects undergo only a 

 partial transformation. 



Insects are the most numerous of all the classes of 

 animals, there being more than two hundred thousand 

 kinds described ; while the undescribed forms are far 

 more numerous. And the study of Insects is one of 

 the most interesting and fascinating in which one can 

 engage. The study of Insects is also very important, 

 that we may know which are injurious to the farm, 

 orchard, garden, granary, and closets, and by knowing 

 their habits be able to resist their attacks ; and that 

 we may know which are of use to man : for the Bee 

 gives us delicious honey; some of the Beetles arc of 

 use to the sick; some of the little Bark Lice, as the 

 Cochineal, yield rich dyes; and some of the Cater- 

 pillars furnish all the world with silk. 



Bees, Wasps, Ichneumons, etc., or Hymenoptera, 



These Insects have four wings which are more or 

 less transparent, the hind pair being the smaller, and 

 all with a few branching veins. They have two pairs 

 of jaws, — the upper pair fitted for biting, while in the 

 Bees the lower pair with the lower lip is adapted for 

 collecting honey. The females have either a sting or 

 a piercer for laying their eggs. They surpass all other 

 Insects in the number and variety of their instincts. 

 The word Hymenopter means menibrane-zvinged. 



Bees. 



Bees have a hairy body, and their lower lip is length- 

 ened into a sort of proboscis, which is jointed and can 



