PDF - Wallace Online

286 TROPICAL NATUREcutting ant in America will thus explain why these speciallymodified plantsare so much more abundant there than in theOld World, where no ants with equally destructive habitsappear to exist.Waspsand BeesThese insects are excessively numerous in the tropics, and,from their large size, their brilliant colours, and their greatactivity, they are sure to attract attention. Handsomest ofall, perhaps, are the Scoliadae, whose large and rather broadhairy bodies, often two inches long, are richly banded withyellow or orange. The Pompilidae comprise an immensenumber of large and handsome insects, with rich blue-blackbodies and wings and exceedingly long legs. They may oftenbe seen in the forests dragging along large spiders, beetles, orother insects they have captured. Some of the smallerspecies enter houses and build earthen cells, which they storewith small green spiders rendered torpid by stinging, to feedthe larvae. The Eumenidae are beautiful wasps with verylong pedunculated bodies, which build papery cones coveringa few cells in which the eggs are deposited. Among the beesthe Xylocopas, or wood -boring bees, are remarkable. Theyresemble large humble-bees, but have broad, flat, shiningbodies, either black or banded with blue and; they often borelarge cylindrical holes in the posts of houses. True honeybeesare chiefly remarkable in the East for their large semicircularcombs suspended from the branches of the loftiesttrees without any covering. From these exposed nests largequantities of wax and honey are obtained, while the larvaeafford a rich feast to the natives of Borneo, Timor, and otherislands where bees abound. They are very pugnacious, and,when disturbed will follow the intruders for miles, stingingseverely.Orthoptera and other InsectsNext to the butterflies and ants, the insects that are mostlikely to attract the attention of the stranger in the tropicsare the various forms of Mantidse and Phasmidae, some ofwhich are remarkable for their strange attitudes and brightcolours ;while others are among the most singular of knowninsects, owing to their resemblance to sticks and leaves. The