devoured, could ever suppose that these swift-flying creatures, had, but a few weeks before, been inhabitants of the water. Yet it is there the early stages of their life are passed, for in that element are the eggs deposited by the mother.

Some have the wings expanded horizontally when at rest (Fig 58, 69); others have them closed and erect (Fig. 70); but in both, the movements

of the insects are so light and graceful, their colours so splendid, and, at the same time, so varied, displaying the softest green and the richest azure, that our neigh

Fig. 70.-AGRION.

bours, the French, have bestowed on them the appellation of "demoiselles;" and one of our poets has applied to them a corresponding term:—

"Chasing, with eager hands and eyes,

The beautiful blue damsel flies,
That fluttered round the jasmine stems

Like winged flowers or flying gems."-MOORE.

ORDER IV.-BEES, WASPS, ANTS, ETC.

HYMENOPTERA (MEMBRANE-WINGED.)

THE insects of this order have four veined membranous wings, but they are not equal in size, nor do they present the appearance of delicate network as in the preceding order. The female is furnished either with a sting, or with an instrument termed an ovipositor (Fig. 74), used in the deposition of the eggs. The jaws are powerful, and the tongue, instead of being small and inconspicuous, becomes in some tribes an organ of great size and importance. To this order belong the Saw-flies, Gall-flies, Ants, Wasps, and Bees.

The Saw-flies (Fig. 72) take their name from a pair of saw-like instruments, with which the female is furnished, and which she employs for making an incision, in which she deposits an egg.

Fig. 72.-TENTHREDO.

Fig. 73.-GALL-FLY.

The Gall-flies (Fig. 73) are those which puncture plants, and, in the wound thus made, insert one of their eggs along

with an irritating fluid, the action of which upon the plant produces tumours or galls of various sizes, shapes, and colours. That found on the wild rose, and called the beguar or bedeguar of the rose, is well known.

In the next division (Fig. 74) we find the insects depositing their eggs, not on the leaf or stem of a tree, but actually in the body of a living caterpillar. About three thousand of these Ichneumons, as they are called by Linnæus, are at present known and described. They all deposit in living insects, chiefly while in the larva state, sometimes while pupæ, and even while in the egg state, but not, as far as is known, in perfect insects. The

eggs thus deposited soon hatch into grubs, which immediately attack their victim, and in the end ensure its destruction.

We now enter upon the examination of those insect tribes which congregate into large and well-regulated communities, and in which new powers and instincts are developed. Among these are the Ants; and it may perhaps seem strange that the little, busy, wingless creatures, which we see foraging about our fields and gardens, with ceaseless activity,

Fig. 74.-IcnNEUMON.

should be included among insects having four membranous

wings. But, if an Ant's nest be examined towards the end of summer, numbers of them will then be found possessed of these appendages. These are young Ants, which have just assumed the perfect state. The males and females rise together into the air; the males soon perish: some of the females retire to their original home, and others, casting their wings aside, become the solitary founders of industrious and populous cities. On the neuters devolve the erection of the store-houses, the making of the highways, the nursing of the young grubs, the catering for all, and many other offices essential to the well-being of the community.

The fact, now ascertained, that our Ants pass the winter in a torpid state, is contrary to popular belief. The prevailing notion is, that during the summer and autumn, they sedulously lay up a stock of provision for the winter, one end of each grain being carefully bitten off, in order to prevent germination. This idea, current but erroneous, is embodied in the following extract from Prior:

"Tell me, why the Ant

In summer's plenty, thinks of winter's want?
By constant journey, careful to prepare

Her stores, and bringing home the corny ears—
By what instruction does she bite the grain?
Lest, hid in earth, and taking root again,

It might elude the foresight of her care."

The error, in this instance, had probably arisen from the ants having been observed carrying their young about in

the state of pupa, at which time they bear some resemblance, both in size and shape, to a grain of corn; and it would receive confirmation from their being occasionally seen gnawing at the end of one of these little oblong bodies -not to extract the substance of the grain, or to prevent its growth, but in reality to liberate the enclosed insect from its confinement.

The fact that no European species of Ant stores up grain, no way affects the lesson which Solomon so beautifully inculcates:-"Go to the Ant, thou sluggard, consider her ways and be wise; which having no guide, overseer, or ruler, provideth her meat in the summer, and gathereth her food in the harvest." Even if the insect did not collect a supply of food for future use, we might all, with great advantage, "consider her ways and be wise." But it is more than probable that Solomon referred to species living in a warmer climate, and, consequently, different in modes of life from those which are natives of these countries. This view is corroborated by the discovery made by Colonel Sykes, of a species living in India, which hoards up in its cell the seeds of grass, and takes the precaution of bringing them up to the surface to dry, when wetted by the heavy rains peculiar to the country.

The Wasps constitute another tribe of Hymenopterous insects. Their community consists of males, females, and neuters. The males and females are produced only towards autumn; the males and neuters die as the season