Hymenoptera

(-op'te-rah.) [From Gr. hymen, a membrane,and pte ron, wing.] (Zool.) A sub-order of insects having four membranous and more or le tran spa rent wings, the hind pair the smaller, and all traversed by a few irregularly branching veins. These insects, to which belong the Bees and the Wasps, have four jaws, the upper pair horny and fitted for biting or Fig. 402.-PSLIITRUS RUPESTRIS, cutting, and the (fam. Apida.) lower pair longer, softer, and with the lower lip adapted for collecting honey. The females are provided with either a piercer or as ting in the hind extremity of the body. They all undergo a complete transformation in coming to maturity. They are all diurnal,fly swiftly, and in the number and variety of their instincts they surpa all other insects. [s. 472]