184 
HYMENOPTERA. 
so far as known, mainly local but their superficial resemblance pro¬ 
bably has led to the belief that they are all common and not worth 
observing or collecting. C. fMcipennis, Br., C. lusca , Fabr., C. orien¬ 
tals, Guer., and C. oculata, Fabr., are widespread and common, likely 
to be found anywhere. 
Collecting. Cuckoo-wasps are common in houses and in the open ; 
they require to be caught with a net and may be killed with Cyanide 
or a B. C. bottle. Far more wanted than collecting is observation 
of their hosts and habits and rearing from nests of Aculeates. The 
part they play in the complicated relations of our insect fauna is 
not at present measurable and a far closer knowledge of them is 
required. They are common at nearly all times and as many infest 
the Aculeates that build in and around houses, are easy of observation. 
A really close study of one species would well repay the labour and 
time. 
ACULEATA. 
Our knowledge of this group is due largely to Wroughton, who 
worked in the Konkan, Bothney who worked for 14 years in Barrack- 
pore and Bingham who worked for many years in Burma. The last 
has listed the species known up to 1896 in the Fauna of India, and there 
have been abundant papers since then adding new species. With the 
latter we are not concerned ; Cameron has described hundreds of new 
species in a variety of publications. G. C. Nurse has added others and 
it will be long before all are described. Bothney’s paper (Trans. Ent. 
Soc., London, 1903, p. 93) adds to our information and Horne’s paper 
in Trans. Zool. Soc. VII, p. 168 (1870), must be consulted. 
The most striking point about the Aculeates is the fact that the 
whole business of life is conducted by the imago; the larva is practically 
helpless and if not actually fed by the imago is at least provided with 
an ample supply of carefully gathered food which simply has to be 
devoured. Without careful search we never see the larva of an Aculeate 
and the imago alone is active. This specialisation in life history is 
associated with extraordinary specialisation in habits and consequently 
in structure; the activities of these insects excite the admiration of all 
who observe them and their extremely varied ingenuity is unparalleled 
in any other insect group ; for this reason, they are placed at the head 
of insects in mental activity and intelligence and they are unquestion¬ 
ably very far removed from any of the primitive types of insect life. 
