They divide, according to the Red-blooded Worms or the orders of their cohort, into three families.
Fam. 1. Dipteroid Hymenoptera, Bees.
Abdomen aculeate; labium elongated in a rostriform manner. They dig or build cells, and carry thither honey to the larvæ, which are apodal.
Alliance 1. Fossorial Bees—Andrenidæ.
2. Carpenter-Bees—Anthophoridæ.
3. Cell-Bees—Apidæ.
Fam. 2. Typical Hymenoptera, Wasps.
Aculeate; labium not elongated—rapacious Hymenoptera, such as Ants, Fossorial, and Cell-wasps, larvæ apodal.
Alliance 1. Hohlenwespen—Formicidæ.
2. Fossorial Wasps—Sphegidæ.
3. Cell-Wasps—Vespidæ.
Fam. 3. Lepidopteroid Hymenoptera, Terebrantia.
Instead of the sting there is an ovipositor, with which the females stick their eggs into other insects, mostly into caterpillars, or else into leaves and wood—Ichneumonidæ, Tenthredinidæ, and Uroceridæ. The larvæ of the first are apodal, those of the second provided with thoracic and abdominal feet like caterpillars, those of the third with thoracic feet only like the larvæ of Coleoptera.
Alliance 1. Stutzwespen. Ovipositor short; wings nearly veinless. Deposit their eggs in small insects; larvæ apodal—Chalcididæ, Oxyuri, Chrysididæ.