This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 Excerpt: ...along part of the upper edge of the lower wing, and fitting into a fold in the lower edge of the upper wing. These hooks differ in form to a very considerable degree in the various families of the Hymenoptera, those from the wing of a wasp, for instance, being very distinct from those taken from a bee or ichneumon. So ...
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This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1882 Excerpt: ...along part of the upper edge of the lower wing, and fitting into a fold in the lower edge of the upper wing. These hooks differ in form to a very considerable degree in the various families of the Hymenoptera, those from the wing of a wasp, for instance, being very distinct from those taken from a bee or ichneumon. So much is this the case, indeed, that an experienced entomologist can detect, by the examination of a single hook, to which family of the order its owner belonged. The second pair of wings are always much smaller than the first, and are intersected by fewer veins. The head is furnished with a pair of horny jaws, and also with a fleshy tongue, lying between and protected by them. The abdomen of the female is provided with an ovipositor formed of several parts, modified in some groups into a poison-bearing sting. The pupa is invariably quiescent, as is also the larva, except in the case of the Saw-flies. The Hymenoptera are usually divided into two chief sections, viz., the Tirebrantia, or 'Borers, ' and the Acukata, or 'Sting-bearers.' The first subdivision of the leading group includes the Saw-flies and Gall-flies, in which the base of the abdomen is attached to the thorax by the whole of its diameter, the larvae feeding upon vegetable substances of various kinds, and being furnished with horny mandibles and a well-developed mouth. The saw-flies bear the appropriate title of Tenthredinidce, an appellation formed from a Greek word signifying to gnaw, or nibble. The wings of these insects are large, the nervures forming several distinct cells; the abdomen is not connected with the thorax by means of a footstalk, and is provided, in the female, with the curious apparatus from which the name 'Saw-fly' is derived. This consists of a couple of flat hor..
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