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a true native of the eastern hemisphere, and its original home may possibly have been not far from the shores of the eastern portion of the Mediterranean sea. Seven or eight other species of Apis are known, all but one of which occur in Asia, extending as far as Timor and Celebes. The exceptional one, 4. A. adansonii, occurs in tropical Africa and in Madagascar. Gerstaecker thought these species might be reduced to four, but Smith's statement that the males and even the workers show good distinctive characters seems to be correct. Very little is known as to the honeybees of China and Japan.

The queen-bee greatly resembles the worker, but has the hind body more elongated; she can, however, always be distinguished from the worker by the absence of the beautiful transverse, comb-like series of hairs on the inner side of the first joint of the hind foot, the planta, as it is called by the beekeeper: she has also no wax plates and differs in important anatomical peculiarities. The male bee or drone is very different, being of much broader, more robust build, and with very large eyes that quite meet in the middle of the upper part of the head: he also has the hind leg differently shaped. The form of this limb enables the male of A. mellifica to be distinguished from the corresponding sex of allied species of the genus.

D DI

2

3

FIG. 25.-Portions of hind-feet,

1, of male, 2, of worker, 3, of queen, of the honey-bee; series on the left, outer faces; on the right, inner faces. a, Tip of tibia: b, first joint; c, second joint of tarsus.

We are indebted to Horne for some particulars as to the habits of A. dorsata, an allied East Indian species. He informs us that these bees greatly disfigure buildings, such as the Taj Mahal at Agra, by attaching their pendent combs to the marble arches, and are so pertinacious that it is almost useless to destroy the This bee is said to be so savage in its disposition that it cannot be domesticated; it attacks the sparingly clad Hindoos

nests.

with great ferocity when they disturb its nest. Notwithstanding its inclination and power to defend its societies this Insect appears to be destroyed wholesale. Colonel Ramsay failed to establish hives of it, because the Insects were eaten up by lizards. The crested honey-buzzard carries off large portions of the comb, and devours it on a branch of some tree near by, quite regardless of the stings of the bees; while the fondness of bears for the honey of the "Dingar," as this species is called, is well known.

NOTE TO P. 33: It has just been discovered that a most remarkable symbiosis, with structural modification of the bee, exists between the females of Xylocopa, of the Oriental sub-genus Koptorthosoma, and certain Acarids. A special chamber, with a small orifice for entry, exists in the abdomen of the bee, and in this the Acari are lodged.—See Perkins, Ent. Mag. xxxv. 1899, p. 37.

NOTE TO P. 80: referring to the habits of social wasps in warm countries. The anticipation we ventured to indulge in is shown to be correct by the recent observations of Von Ihering.1 He states that social wasps in Brazil may be divided into two great groups by their habits, viz. 1. Summer communities, lasting for one year, and founded annually by fertilised females that have hibernated-example, Polistes; 2. Perennial communities, founded by swarms after the fashion of bee colonies-examples, Polybia, Chartergus. 1 Ann. Nat. Hist. (6), xix. 1897, p. 136.

NOTE TO VOL. V. PP. 545, 546: The development of Encyrtus fuscicollis has now been studied by Marchal, who has discovered the existence of embryonic dissociation. The chain of embryos and the epithelial tube in which they are placed, are formed as follows: the Encyrtus deposits an egg in the interior of the egg of the Hyponomeuta. This does not kill the egg of the Lepidopteron, but becomes included in the resulting caterpillar. The amnion of the Chalcid egg lengthens, and forms the epithelial tube; while the cells within it become dissociated in such a way as to give rise to a chain of embryos, instead of a single embryo.-C.R. Ac. Paris, cxxvi. 1898, p. 662, and translation in Ann. Nat. Hist. (7), ii. 1898, p. 28.

CHAPTER II

HYMENOPTERA ACULEATA CONTINUED DIVISION II.

DIPLOPTERA

OR WASPS-EUMENIDAE, SOLITARY TRUE WASPS-VESPIDAE,
SOCIAL WASPS-

-MASARIDAE

Division II. Diploptera-Wasps.

Anterior wings longitudinally plicate in repose; the pronotum

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THIS division of Hymenoptera includes the true wasps, but not the fossorial wasps. The name applied to it has been suggested by the fact that the front wings become doubled in the long direction when at rest, so as to make them appear narrower than in most other Aculeata (Fig. 27). This character is unimportant in function so far as we know, and it is not quite constant in the division, since some of the Masaridae do not exhibit it. The character reappears outside the Diploptera in the genus Leucospis -a member of the Chalcididae in the parasitic series of Hymenoptera the species of which greatly resemble wasps in coloration. A better character is that furnished by the well-marked angle, 1 Janet has suggested that the folding is done to keep the delicate hind-margins of the wings from being frayed.

formed by the pronotum on the dorsal part (Fig. 26). By a glance at this part a Diplopterous Insect can always be readily distinguished.

Three families are at present distinguished in the Diploptera, viz. Eumenidae, Vespidae and Masaridae. We anticipate that Eumenidae and Vespidae will ultimately be found to constitute but one family.

Fam. 1. Eumenidae Solitary True Wasps.

Claws of the feet spur at tip.

toothed or bifid; middle tibiae with only one Social assemblages are not formed, and there is no worker-caste, the duties of nest-construction, etc., being performed solely by the female.

The Eumenidae, or solitary wasps, are very little noticed by the ordinary observer, but they are nevertheless more numerous

than the social Vespidae, about 800 species being known. In Britain we have sixteen species of the solitary, as against seven of the social wasps. The Eumenidae exhibit a considerable diversity in form and structure; some of them have the pedicel at the base of the abdomen very elongate, while in others this is so short as to be imperceptible in the ordinary position of the body. A repetition of similar differences of form occurs in the social wasps, so that notwithstanding the difference in habits there seems to be no satisfactory way of distinguishing the members of the two families except by the structure of the claws and tibial spurs.

FIG. 27.-Eumenes flavopicta 9. Burma. The wings on the left in the position of repose, to

show folding.

Fabre has sketched the habits of a species of Eumenes, probably E. pomiformis. This Eumenes constructs with clay a small vase-like earthenware vessel, in the walls of which small stones are embedded (like Fig. 28, B). This it fills with food for the young. The food consists of caterpillars to the number of fourteen or sixteen for each nest. These caterpillars are believed to be stung by the parent-wasp (as is the case in the

fossorial Hymenoptera), but complete evidence of this does not seem to be extant, and if it be so, the stinging does not completely deprive the caterpillars of the capacity of movement, for they possess the power of using their mandibles and of making strokes, or kicking with the posterior part of the body. It is clear that if the delicate egg of the Eumenes or the delicate larva that issues from it were placed in the midst of a mass of this kind, it would probably

suffer destruction; therefore, to prevent this, the egg is not placed among the caterpillars, but is suspended from the dome covering the nest by a delicate thread rivalling in fineness the web of the spider, and being above the mass of food it is safe. When the young larva leaves the egg it still makes use of the shell as its habitation, and eats its first meals from the vantage-point of this

[graphic]

B

suspension; although the mass of FIG. 28.-Nidification of solitary wasps:

section through nest, A, of Odynerus reniformis; B, of Eumenes arbustorum. a, The suspended egg of the wasp; b, the stored caterpillars. (After André.)

the food grows less by consumption, the little larva is still enabled to reach it by the fact that the eggshell splits up to a sort of ribbon, and thus adds to the length of the suspensory thread, of which it is the terminal portion. Finally the heap of caterpillars shrinks so much that it cannot be reached by the larva even with the aid of the augmented length of the suspensory thread; by this time, however, the little creature has so much increased in size and strength that it is able to take its place amongst the food without danger of being crushed by the mass, and it afterwards completes its metamorphosis in the usual manner.

It is known that other species of Eumenes construct vaselike nests; E. unguiculata, however, according to an imperfect account given by Perris, makes with earth a closed nest of irregular shape, containing three cells in one mass. The saliva of these builders has the power of acting as a cement, and of forming with the clay a very impenetrable material. One species, E. coarctata, L. of this genus occurs in Britain. The clay

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