INSECTA. 



137 



the egg ; the worm which issues devours the entrails of the 

 victim. 



Genus II. Cynips, Lin. 



Head small; corselet thick and high, which causes them to 

 appear as if hunch-backed; inferior wings with a single vein. 

 The punctures which the female makes in plants for the pur- 

 pose of introducing her eggs, cause excrescences denominated 

 gall-nuts. The Fig- Cynips is famous for the services it ren- 

 ders in the East by bringing about the fecundation of the 

 tree whose name it bears. In fact, these are the Insects 

 which transport the pollen of the male flowers into the inte- 

 rior of the females, which are surrounded with a kind of skin 

 having only a very narrow aperture at top. 



Section II. Jiculeata. 



No ovipositor; a concealed retractile sting composed of 

 three pieces ; larvaB always without feet and living upon food 

 brought them by the females and neuters. Three remark- 

 able genera. 



Genus I. Formica, Lin. Ant. 



Lips and jaws not projecting ; antennae filiform and geni- 

 culate ; abdomen united to the thorax by a pedicle in the 

 form of a scale or knot, single or double ; each species is of 

 three sorts — the males, the females whose wings are long, 

 and the neuters which are apterous. They feed upon a 

 great number of substances, but are particularly fond of sac- 

 charine matter; their habits are very curious. 



Genus II. Vespa, Lin. Wasp. 



Superior wings folding longitudinally. Jaws not extending 

 beyond the mandibles ; antennae with thirteen articulations 

 in the males, and twelve in the females. The females and 

 neuters build nests composed of a kind of paper or card 

 which they make by bruising with their mandibles particles 

 of decayed wood or bark, and reducing it to a paste by the 

 aid of a fluid, which is supplied abundantly by their mouths. 

 They feed upon insects, meat or fruit. 



Genus III. Apis, Lin. Bee. 



Jaws probosci-form, and extending beyond the mandibles ; 



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