dently showing its object to be to deposit its eggs therein). It is probable that it only then deposits a single egg, as generally a single larva of the Parnopes is only found, and which is engaged at the beginning of the spring in sucking the larva of the Bembex, upon the back of which it has fastened itself.

These insects are extremely interesting in regard to their relations with the other tribes of Hymenopterous insects, being, as Latreille observes (Consid. Génér. p. 76.), "sur les confins des deux sections" [Terebrantia and Aculeata]. Mr. MacLeay considered them as allied to some splendid parasitic and exotic bees (Hora Entomol. part 2. p. 429.); and hence Mr. Stephens arranged them after the bees, succeeded by the Chalcididæ, &c. which are supposed to be most nearly allied to the Strepsiptera; and Mr. Curtis (Brit. Ent. fo. 724. Jan. 1839) considers that Cleptes, in the minute size of the labrum, forms the link between this family and such species of Chalcidida [still misnamed Cynipidæ by Curtis] as have the labrum distinct, although small; (Chalcis [Smiera] and Perilampus); and he further states that he has lately received a most remarkable metallic bee from America, which will prove, he expects, that there exists a strong affinity between the Andrenidæ and Chrysididæ.

It is not indeed improbable that a close relation may exist between these insects and some of the parasitic bees; and indeed Parnopes, in the structure of its maxillæ and labium (fig. 79. 14.), and almost obsolete palpi, seems to confirm this; but I agree with Latreille in thinking Cleptes allied to Bethylus, and with Shuckard in considering them as related to Tiphia, Meria, &c.: indeed, the Epyris aurichalcea of Klug's MSS. from Cuba, and E. Carcelii Westw., a remarkable insect in the collection of M. Serville, brought from Palestine by the late M. Carcel, evidently confirm this relation.

The second general section of the Hymenoptera, corresponding with the ACULEATA of Latreille, the H. Ovitithers of St. Fargeau, and H. Monotrocha of Hartig, is distinguished by the females (and neuters of such species as live in society) having the organ of oviposi

*It is now generally admitted that these neuters (as they have been miscalled), both amongst the bees, wasps, and ants, are individuals of the female sex, which, from the peculiar manner in which they are nourished, become abortive, and acquire habits totally dissimilar from those of the true females. This has long been known to be the case with the bees; the neuters possessing the power, when deprived of their female (or queen), of transforming a larva into a queen, which, under ordinary circumstances, would have produced a neuter bee, or worker; and Huber, the

tion converted into a sting, connected with poisonous glands; composed of a slender horny acute dart, channelled beneath, and inclosing two spicule, which are retro-serrated at the tips, and connected at the base with a poison bag* in both females and neuters, and also with the ovaries in the females. This organ is defended, when at rest, by a pair of lateral plates, articulated in the centre, and forming together a kind of scabbard, or sheath, as in the Terebrantia. My fig. 79. 15-20. represent the details of the sting of the common wasp. Fig. 15. exhibits the terminal segments of the abdomen laid open, and exhibiting the sting in situ; s p is the terminal spiracle of the abdomen; b, the basal, and b b, the terminal parts of the lateral sheaths of the sting; c being the sting itself, and c the basal muscles of the spicule; the dotted part of this figure shows the action of the sting,

admirable historian of the ants, has confirmed this, having observed an occasional sexual intercourse between the males and workers, which was, however, followed by the death of the latter, their organisation not allowing them ordinarily to bring forth eggs: although in certain cases the workers have even been recorded to produce male eggs, the instinct of the males having thus proved them to be of the opposite sex. It is only amongst the social tribes that these imperfectly developed females are found; and when we consider first, the necessity which exists for the performance of the multitudinous labours of the community; and second, the immense numerical excess of these neuters over the females (which latter it will be remembered are merely normally perfect animals), we cannot but be struck with surprise at the remarkable instinct evinced by these insects, which compels them by an artificial process to render the greatest part of the community abortive. It is true that the neuters, which are for the most part the feeders of the society, are not the parents of the objects of their charge; whence we might at first entertain the notion that they cannot possess the sense of philoprogenitiveness in its full extent; but their laborious assiduity in support of the community, together with other circumstances, contradicts such a supposition.

* This poisonous secretion emitted by the sting is soluble in water, but not in alcohol, and separable from the former in the state of white powder; and, when the latter is added, giving a slight red tinge to paper stained with vegetable blue (Kirby and Spence, vol. iv. p. 139.); and Dr. Bevan states, that, if a humble-bee be made to sting litmus paper, the colour is changed to a bright red. Hence, Fontana (On Poisons, vol. i. p. 265.) considers that it is mixed in a very small degree with an acid, and not with an alkali: so that spirit of hartshorn is one of the most effectual remedies against the stings of these insects. Its effects are produced when introduced into a wound made by a needle, thus proving that it is not the sting itself which causes the pain. If a bee be made to strike a piece of glass with its sting, and leave a drop of poison, the latter, under the microscope, gradually produces oblong pointed crystals. (Bevan, Honey Bee, 2d ed. p. 331.; and see also Blot, in Mém. Soc. Linn. de Calvados, vol. i. in which, the nature of the poison and its effects in the different families is treated upon in detail.)

detached from its sheath. Fig. 16. represents the same parts, but seen from beneath. Fig. 17. exhibits the sting detached, including the two spiculæ in situ. Fig. 18. is the sting, or rather the channelled dart, grooved beneath for the reception of (figs. 19. and 20.) the two spiculæ, separated from the dart, and retro-serrated at the tip. The lettering of these parts being the same throughout, and corresponding with the letters explaining the figures of the same parts in the preceding families, will clearly show the analogies between the sting and the ovipositor. Latreille (Gen. Cr. tom. iv. p. 51.) and St. Fargeau (Hist. Nat. Hym. p. 80.) expressly state that the eggs are not excluded by the sting, and that this organ is only composed of two setæ, one being inclosed in the other; had they, however, consulted Swammerdam's 18th and 19th plates, they would have perceived that, in both these respects, they had fallen into error. Indeed, when it is remembered that the ovipositor or terebra is but the external outlet of the ovaries and oviduct in the preceding tribes, and that the analogies between it and the true sting are unquestionable, as now illustrated in my various figures, we are, as it seems to me, warranted in considering that the eggs do pass through the sting in the act of oviposition; and this, indeed, is expressly asserted by Dr. Bevan (Honey Bee, p. 319. 2d edit.). Hence the account given of this operation by St. Fargeau (Hist. Nat. p. 90.), and considered by him as the chief ground for the primary division of the Hymenoptera, cannot be correct. "La ponte n'a point d'organe extérieur et visible; l'anus de la femelle est susceptible de s'ouvrir largement; lors de cette ouverture, il laisse apercevoir un large cavité, au fond de laquelle est un orifice, qui est celui de l'oviducte. L'œuf sorti de l'oviducte par cet orifice, tombe dans la cavité anale (figurée par Réaumur, tom. v. pl. 29. f. 1.); et celle-ci s'ouvrant, le laisse glisser le plus souvent à la place," &c. It appears to me that the whole account here given of this operation is gratuitous. The orifice at the bottom of the anal cavity, considered as that of the oviduct, has, as far as I can ascertain, no existence but in the theory of St. Fargeau. I can find no notice taken of it by Swammerdam and Réaumur; indeed, the latter copies the figure given by the former of the internal organs of the female.

The antennæ are almost invariably simple, and, with very few exceptions, are formed of thirteen joints in the males (fig. 81. 13, 14.), and twelve in the females (fig. 81. 8.); the palpi are filiform, the maxillary having ordinarily six, and the labial four, joints; but these numbers vary in the tribes of bees and ants. All the wings are veined,

and exhibit several perfect cells.

The abdomen, united to the thorax

by a longer or shorter peduncle, is composed of seven joints in the males (fig. 81. 10.), and six in the females (fig. 81. 1.).

These insects are generally of a moderate or large size. The larvæ have no legs, and are subvermiform, or grub-like, in their form. In the fossorial families, and in some of the wasps, they are nourished in cells prepared by the parents, in wood, sand, earth, &c.; and feed upon larvæ or perfect insects, stored up for their support by the females. In the ants, the larvæ are kept in masses, not being inclosed in separate cells, but in a large and general nest, and fed by workers with the juices of fruits, vegetables, animals, &c. In the typical wasps, they are arranged singly in cells, in beautifully constructed combs, being fed with animal or vegetable juices by the females or workers from time to time. In the solitary bees, the food consists of a supply of pollen paste, laid up by the parent insect in the solitary cell in which the larva resides; and in the social bees, the larvæ are, as in the wasps, inclosed in separate cells in regular combs, and are fed by the workers with honey.

With respect to the general economy of the Aculeata, two groups exist; namely, 1. those species which live in society, having individuals of the neuter sex; and 2. those which are solitary in their habits, and consist only of males and females. This is surely a far more natural distribution than that primarily employed by Saint Fargeau, from the nature of the food, namely Phytiphages and Zoophages (vide antè, p. 36.). When, however, we consider that many bees and wasps are solitary nest-makers, and many others parasites, and that all these are unprovided with neuters, there is reason to doubt the propriety of the adoption of such a principle of distribution, and to believe, on the other hand, that an arrangement founded upon the general structure of the different groups is the most satisfactory: and Latreille, having proposed several modes of distribution of this section, founded upon such structural considerations, I have not hesitated to adopt this principle, and have accordingly employed the arrangement proposed in his most valuable work, the Genera Crustaceorum, &c.; in which he divides it into two subsections: 1. the Prædones, or sand-wasps, ants and wasps, including the families Sphegimæ, Crabronites, Bembecides, Scolietæ, Mutillariæ, Formicariæ, Vespareæ, and Masarides; and 2. the Anthophila, or bees, comprising the Andrenetæ and Apiaria. In the Règne Animal, he has raised the For

micaria and Mutillaria into a third subsection, named Heterogyna (from the apterous condition of some of the individuals), placed at the head of the section; and the Vespidæ into a fourth, named Diploptera (from the folded fore wings), immediately preceding the bees. With Mr. MacLeay, I can, however, scarcely think the folding of the wings in the wasps to be a character of sufficient importance to warrant the establishment of a distinct subsection equivalent with the others.

The subsection PRÆDONES has been divided by Latreille into three groups: namely, 1. the Fossores Latr. ; 2. the Heterogyna (including the Mutillidæ and Formicida); and 3. the Diploptera, or wasps. The term Fossores, employed for the first group, is not, however, sufficiently precise, since many of the bees and wasps are equally fossorial. I would, therefore, propose in its stead that of Insectivora, as all the species feed in the larva state upon other insects. The Heterogyna ought to be restricted to the ants; the apterous condition of the female Mutillidæ, which are in all respects Fossores, not being sufficient to warrant their introduction in the same group as the ants; for which, as the females are winged, it will be necessary to employ another name. I therefore divide the Prædones into the three following groups:

1. Insectivora. Fore wings not folded. Larvæ solitary, feeding on other insects. (Linn. gen. Sphex and Mutilla.)

2. Sodales. Fore wings not folded. Larvæ social. (Linn. gen. Formica.)

3. Diploptera. Fore wings folded. Larva, in the social species, separately enclosed in cells. (Linn. gen. Vespa.)

The natural arrangement of these groups is, however, very difficult. Latreille, in his late works, has placed Formica at the head of the Aculeata, with which is arranged Mutilla, followed by the Fossores; commencing the latter with the Scoliida, and terminating with the Crabronidæ, passing by some of the latter (as Cerceris) and the unfolded-winged wasp-genus Ceramius Kl., to the solitary wasps. In his Genera Crustaceorum, &c., he, however, placed the ants, wasps, and bees in juxtaposition; a step which appears to me to be so advantageous that I have adopted it in the following pages.*

*The consideration that the Neuropterous Termitida agree in so many particulars with these Hymenopterous groups, is a strong argument against the adoption of the