176 Mandibulata. ^INSECTS. Hymesoptera. 
life — changes nearly as strange, as any read of in the 
Metamorphoses of Ovid. 
These changes are, indeed, well called “ metamor- 
phoses,” from a Greek word. An insect deposits 
an egg, as indeed birds, reptiles, and fish do; but the 
egg, when hatched, generally turns out a creature 
little, if at all, resembling the parents. This creature is 
named a grub, or caterpillar, or better still, a larva, 
from the Latin name for “ a mask.” The silk-worm 
is a complete “ mask of the moth,” and is totally 
unlike the soft, scaly, winged creature, which deposits 
the egg. The larvm eat unceasingly, but change 
their skins a certain number of times, and at those 
periods cease to feed. At last they attain their full 
size, and they change, are metamorphosed — at least 
most of them, such as Moths and Butterflies, and 
Beetles, and Bees, and Flies are changed — into what 
is called the p%ipa, as unlike the larvvL as the larva 
is uidike the mother. These pupae .are often in- | 
closed in cocoons. In this state they are quiet, at 
least generally so, and do not eat ; and it is from this 
pupa that the perfect insect escapes, — a splendid But- 
terfly, an active Beetle, a busy Bee, a bustling, hum- 
ming Fly, called the Imago — see fig. 50. 
Insects are divided into various classes and orders. 
The classes and orders are important, and stand for, 
or represent, many great points of structure. 
From the space at his disposal, the author cannot 
go into this part of the work so minutely as he could 
wish. His object will be to present such views of the 
subject as may at once interest the general- reader, and 
serve to guide the course of those who desire to study 
it more in detail. 
There are two great and important divisions of 
insects, and yet at times they imperceptibly run info 
each other — Mandibulated and Haustellated Insects — 
according as they have distinct and transverse jaws, or a 
I short or long, straight or bent, proboscis or haustellum.^ 
Division I, — MANDIBULATA [Mandibulated Insects.) 
I PREFER to begin with the Hymexoptera, the order 
which contains the Ant, the Bee, and the Wasp. They 
are certainly at the head of the insect world. In a 
strict scientific classification I would begin with the 
Ants ; would go on from them to the Wasps, the Fos- 
sores, and the Bees; and so by Scolia to Chrysis, and 
then Chalcididse, Ichneumonidae, Siricidae, and Ten- 
thredin’dae. 
Order L— HYMENOPTEKA. 
The first great order of insects is that of Hymenop- 
TERA, so called from their four transparent wings, 
gw'/jr (hymen) being the Greek word for a membrane, 
and •jTspa (ptera) for wings. They have jaws, though 
the tongue usually exceeds the jaws in dimension. The 
most highly developed instincts are observable in some 
of the insects of this order. 
Wasps make a kind of whitey-brown paper; but, 
some of the foreign species construct nests of paste- 
board-like material. 
How regularly, how methodically, does the bee visit 
each flower ! Among the Pentland and Braid Hills, on 
the slopes of lovely Arthur’s Seat, on Hampstead and 
Weybridge or Walton Heaths, how pleasant to wander 
while 
“ The wilderness bee gangs floatin’ awa.” 
Its hum, its motion, seem as much part of the scene, as 
the spring or summer day. 
Tribe— TEREBRANTIA : 
So named from the singular, boring ovipositor of the 
female in this tribe. By some naturalists this tribe 
has been made an order. Their caterpillars are very 
like those of Lepidoptera, and somewhat resemble those 
of some Lamellicorn coleoptera. 
Family— TENTHREDINID^ {The Saw-flies). 
Tlie Saw-flies are a family of insects, some of which 
are dreaded by the agriculturist. They are a numerous 
famil}', and some of them, as the Athalia centifloUoe, 
occasion at times to the farmer such losses, by its 
ravages on his turnips, as to ruin him. This insect 
is sometimes seen flying in countless thousands. They 
are soft, heavy-looking insects, with wings covering the 
body in repose. There are forty-five British genera. 
Tenthredo, Selandria, Allanfus, Emphytus, and Lyda, 
have the greatest number of species. Our figure is 
that of the Creesus septentrionalis and two of its 
larvae, copied from Ratzehurg’s fine work, “Die Forst. 
Insekten ” — see fig. 51. 
Treatises have been written by many authors on the 
Turnip-fly, the insect to which we have alluded, whose 
caterpillars eat the leaves of the turnips, and keep the 
roots from growing. 
Hartig has monogi’aphed the European species, and 
Klug has described many exotic species of this family. 
The character of one of the species, as observed by 
* Of course, the comparative anatomist, and he who dissects 
minutely the mouth of an insect, will find that haustellated 
insects have small or abortive mandibles; and that mandibulated 
insects, like some Haustellata, have in their perfect state 
abortive mouths. The horny-jawed caterpillar of the Moth or 
Butterfly is changed into a haustellated insect, in its imago-state. 
