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The transformations of this sub-order are the most complete of all insects ; the larvae 

 in general form being more unlike, while the pupae are more like, the perfect insect than 

 in any other. The natural history of the Hymenoptera is full of interesting and instruc- 

 tive facts and furnishes examples of wonderful instinct and exquisite adaptation. Most 

 of these will be observed in the care they take in providing for their young, and in laying 

 up stores of food for winter use. It is owing to these highly developed instincts, added 

 to the important part they play in the fertilization of many plants, in some cases being 

 actually necessary, that Dr. Packard has placed them first in his system. 



By far the larger proportion of these insects are beneficial, and feed either in the 

 larval or perfect state upon other insects. Of beneficial insects mention must first of all 

 be made though of the Honey Bee, concerning which alone whole volumes have been written, 

 and afterwards of the different wasps and allied genera which feed upon and store up for 

 the sustenance of their grubs enormous numbers of caterpillars and other insects, as well 

 as acting as scavengers. Among the social bees, wasps and ants, there are found not only 

 males and females but also other kinds of individuals which are necessary for the success- 

 ful propagation of the species ; these are called neuters and sometimes labourers or nurses ; 

 they are however essentially females, having the female organs but in an imperfectly devel- 

 oped and passive state, their sting being only an accessory part, which is changed into a spe- 

 cial weapon of defence, and is the homologue of the ovipositor in fertile female insects. The 

 worker bee, besides collecting the honey and pollen which is to serve as food for the off- 

 spring of the queen, has to carry the eggs from the queen to their proper cells and feed the 

 larvae when they are hatched ; they are therefore indispensable for the propagation of the 

 race. 



I class wasps among beneficial insects, because the sting for which they are dreaded 

 is never used against man, except as an instrument of defence, while its proper use is the 

 destruction of his enemies, the caterpillars of numerous noxious species of insects. 



Although some members of the wasp family do fill their cells at certain periods with 

 honey, the food of the greater part, undoubtedly, consists of animal matter, chiefly other 

 insects, which they either seize with their mandibles, or when it is to be stored away for 

 the use of the larvae, they sting to death. The poison introduced by the sting owes its 

 virulence to the presence of a peculiar acid known as formic acid. This acid is said to be 

 chemically very similar to chloroform, and its action upon insects stung to death is very 

 peculiar. It does not kill them out-right, but paralyzes them, so that they live for many 

 days, and in some cases larvae have been known to turn into pupae after having been stung,- 

 but have not had sufficient strength to complete their final change into imagines. The 

 use of this antiseptic property of the poison is easily seen. The mother wasp, having 

 prepared the nest for her young, fills it with insects which she stings to death ;'she then lays 

 an egg and closes up the nest. Upon the grub hatching it has a larder well supplied with 

 provisions which will keep fresh as long as required for it to complete its transformations. 



The Ants do not demand much of our attention in this country as either injurious or 

 beneficial insects, although there are a few species which are occasionally troublesome and 

 destructive to posts and fences. The almost human aspects of ant-life, however, as ex- 

 hibited by different species, provide a favourite study for the entomologist, and an in- 

 vestigation of them could not fail to fill even the least curious with wonder and amaze- 

 ment. Their dwellings are constructed on the most scientific architectural patterns ; 

 some species have their cows (aphides) which they tend with the utmost care. There are 

 some again which make expeditions against less powerful ants, and carry them off to serve 

 them as domestic servants, upon which they are entirely dependent, and without which 

 they are almost helpless. Others, notably the celebrated Agricultural Ants of Texas, cul- 

 tivate the ground, reap the harvest, and store up the grain. It is evidently to a species 

 belonging to this class that Solomon refers when he says : " Go to the ant thou sluggard, 

 consider her ways, which . . . gathers her food in the harvest." There are at least seven 

 species of ant in Palestine which harvest the seed of grasses. In England Curtis men- 

 tions one which sometimes carries off sufficient seed from turnip fields for it to be termed 

 an " insect pest." Perhaps the most astonishing analogy to human customs is found in a 

 description given at page 217 of the 5th vol. of the Journal of the Linnaean Society, of 

 some ants in New South Wales which bury their dead with funeral honours, and punish 



