OCR Text |
Show 126 INSECTA. SPHEX, Lin. Most females of this genus place beside their eggs, in ~he nests they have constructed, most commonly in the earth or _m wood, various Insects or their larvre and sometimes Arachmdes, previously pierced with their stin~, to serve as food for their young. The larvre are always destitute of feet, resemble little worms, and undergo a metamorphosis in the cocoon they have spun previous to becoming nymphs. The perfect Insect is usually very active and lives on flowers. The maxillre and lip are elongated and in the form of a proboscis in many. We will distribute the numerous subgenera derived from the pri· mitive genus Sphex into seven principal sections. In the two first the eyes are frequently emarginated; the body of the males is usually narrow, elongated, and terminated posteriorly, in a great many, by three points in the form of spines or dentations. 1. Those, in which the first segment of the thorax is sometimes in the form of a bow, and prolonged laterally to the wings, and some· times forms a transversal square, or resembles a knot or joint; in which the legs are short, thick, very spinous or densely ciliated, with the thighs arcuated near the knee; and in which the antennre of the females are .evidently shorter than the head and thorax. These are the SooLIET.IE of Latreille, so named from the genus SooLIA(l). In some the maxillary palpi are long, and evidently composed of ( 1) The Scolieta: may be divided thus: I. Palpi always very short. Ligula with three linear divisions. Anus of the male terminated by three spines. The thick or callous point of the supe· rior wings replaced by a small cell. 8-coLIA proper. n. The maxillary palpi elongated in several. The ligula broad, and widened at the extremity. A recurved spine at the anus of the males. A thick dis· tinct point in the superior wings. A. Second joint of the antenna: exposed. Two complete cubital cells, or three, but of which the intermediate is small and petiolate. a. No incomplete cubital cell closed by the posterior border of the wing. Radial cell null or open in the females. TIPJlJ.l, MERJA.. HYMENOPTERA. 127 uSnuechq uiasl joints; the first J. oint of the antennre is altnost conical. TrPHIA, Fab. To which we may unite the TENGYRA of . In the others the maxillary pal . h Latreille( 1 ). . • 1 . . p1 are s ort and co d f s. lml . ar JOmts; the first of th e antennre . mpose o almost mdncal. 1s elo nga t e d and almost cyl- Sometimes this J·O ·i n t recet· ves and conceals the £o II OW.J .ng, as m. MvziNE, Lat. Where the mandibles are dentated(2). MERIA, Illig. Wher~ they are not dentated(3). Sometimes the second joint of th . LIA proper, or e antennre IS exposed, as in Soo- SoouA, Fab.( 4) 2. Those Fossores in which the fi t ed as in the preceding o h rs segment of the thorax is form-nes, w ere the le · der, and neither spinous nor st I .. gs are still short, but slen-in both sexes are at least I rong y cthated, and where the antennre Their body is usuall as ong as the head and thorax. y smooth, or but very slightly pub escent. b. w~mng .i ncomplete cubitIa l cell ' closed by the poste....:o r b ord er of the T:SNGYRA.. B. Second joint of the antenna: enclosed i th~ last closed by the posterior border ~ the fir~t. :our cubital cells, netther of them petiolate. the wmg m the males, and M L MYZINE. . eon Dufour-Journ. de PI obs;rvations on the anatomy of t~~s~cso~f~~mb. 1818-has published some curious ( ) Lat., Gen. Crust. et Insect IV (2) Lat., Ibid.; Vander L' d ., ' P· 116; Fabricius; Jurine· Vander L" d (3) Lat., Ibid.; Van der L.'; en. ' m en. (4) Lat., Ibid .. Fab S m en. Linden. ' . ee also the Monograph of the F ossores by Van der |