CHAPTER VI. 



HTMENOPTEBA. 



Stingers and Piercers. — Habits of some of the Hymenoptera. — Saw- 

 Flies and Slugs. — Elm Saw-Fly. — Fir Saw-Fly. — Vine Saw-Fly,— 

 Rose-bush Slug.— Pear-Tree Slug. — Horn-tailed Wood- Wasps. — 

 Gall-Flies. — Chalcidians. — Barley Insect and Joint-Worm. 



BEES, wasps, ants, saw-flies, and ichneumon-flies, of 

 many different kinds, together with other insects, un- 

 known by any common names in the English language, 

 belong to the order Hymexoptera. Their wings are four 

 in number, are traversed by a few branching veins, and are 

 more or less transparent, or of a thin and filmy texture, as 

 expressed by the name of the order, which signifies mem- 

 branaceous wings. They fly swiftly, and are able to keep 

 on the wing much longer than any other insects, because 

 their bodies are light and compact, and their wings very 

 thin, narrow, and withal very strong. They have four 

 nippers or jaws ; the upper pair being horny, stout, and 

 fitted for biting or cutting ; the lower are longer and softer, 

 and, with the lower lip, which they cover, form a kind of 

 beak or sucker= Their antennas vary in form and length ; 

 but are most often cylindrical, and of equal thickness to the 

 end. The males have no weapons of offence or defence 

 except their jaws. The females are armed with a venom- 

 ous sting, concealed within the end of the hind body, or 

 are provided with a piercer, of some sort, for boring or saw- 

 ing the holes wherein their eggs are deposited. Hence 

 the insects of this order may be divided into two groups, 

 Stingers and Piercers. Though both of them undergo a 

 complete transformation in coming to maturity, they differ 

 from each other in the early states of their existence. 



