The Bees, the Humble Bees, the Wasps, and the Ants, are the best-known types of this order of insects. Among a great number of the Hymenoptera the females are armed with a sting, or lancet, a wound from which causes great pain. All these insects undergo complete metamorphoses. In the larva state the aculeate species are incapable of motion and of obtaining food; but Nature has provided in different ways for their preservation. They are often lodged and fed by the workers of the tribe, unfruitful females, which, with a self-denial very rare in Nature, seem to have no other vocation than to sacrifice themselves to the welfare of the larvæ. The workers construct the nest and bring in the provisions. This is the case with honey bees, wasps, and ants. Some deposit their eggs in the bodies of other insects, which die immediately the larvæ which live in them have attained their full development. The larvæ of the _Chalcididæ_ and of the _Ichneumonidæ_ furnish examples of Hymenoptera which inhabit the interior of the body of another insect. Other parasitical species carry on their depredations in a different way. They content themselves with laying their eggs in the nests of other species of the order, which have the advantage over them in being able to construct for themselves places of refuge. Their larvæ live thus on their neighbours' goods, nourishing themselves on the provisions which were laid up for others. In this way live the _Cleptes_, the _Chrysides_, &c. Lastly, others, such as the Gall-insects, and the _Tenthredinetæ_, or Saw-flies, live in their first state exposed on plants, and feed upon their leaves. We shall only here describe the principal families of the Order Hymenoptera, which contains a considerable number of species. These families will be--1st. The _Apiariæ_, containing the Honey Bees, the _Melipodes_, and the Humble Bees. 2nd. The _Vespiariæ_, or Wasps. 3rd. The _Formicariæ_, or Ants. 4th. The _Gallicolæ_, or Gall-insects. BEES.--Man, from the very earliest age, before any civilisation existed, knew the value of bees, and took advantage of the products of these industrious insects. The Bible makes mention of honey bees. Their Hebrew name is _Deborah_. The Greeks called them by the name of _Melissa_, or _Melitta_. Their wonderful architectural powers, their economical forethought, the wonderful combination of their reasonings, which denote a real intelligence, their admirable social organisation, have in all times fixed the attention of naturalists, as they have also that of poets and thinkers. Virgil has celebrated them. In the fourth book of his Georgics, the Latin poet has summed up all that the ancients knew about bees. He paints with a good deal of truth many traits in their history, points out their enemies, and sets forth with accuracy all the care that should be taken of them. In the words of the Mantuan poet, they are heavenly gifts, _dona cælestia_, and their intelligence excited his admiration:--