GENERAL HISTORY OF BEES. 
45 
of making the inferior cling to the superior wing by a 
series of hooklets with which its anterior edge is fur¬ 
nished at about half the length of that wing, which gives 
to the thus consolidated combination of the two a greater 
force in beating the air to accelerate its progress. That 
the insect has a control over the operation of these 
hooklets is very evident, for, upon settling, it usually 
unlocks them, and the anterior are often seen separated 
and raised perpendicularly over the insect; but that this 
can be mechanically effected also is shown sometimes 
in pinning a bee for setting, when by a lucky accident 
the pin catches the muscles which act upon the wings, 
and they become distended, as in flight, closely linked 
together. Both the dia¬ 
gram and the description 
of this superior wing I 
borrow from an elaborate 
paper of my own in 
the first volume of the Fig. 12.-Superior wing, a, marginal 
cell; o, first cubital or submargmal cell; 
transactions of the En- c, second ditto; d, third ditto; e and/, 
, , . , 0 . . r first and second recurrent nervures. 
tomological Society of 
London/ wherein I gave a tabulated view, in chronolo¬ 
gical order, of the nomenclature introduced by succes¬ 
sive entomologists in the use they made of the anterior 
wing of the Hymenoptera for generic subdivision, and 
which I subsequently applied to my own work upon the 
£ Fossorial Hymenoptera of Great Britain/ 
Attached to the mesothorax in the centre, above and 
behind, are the scutellum and post-scutellum, which in 
colouring or form often yield subsidiary generic or 
specific characters. On each side of the mesothorax in 
front, above the pectus, or breast, and just below and 
before the articulation of the anterior wings, there is a 
