OF WASHINGTON. 323 ANNUAL ADDRESS OF THE PRESIDENT. THE PHYLOGENY OF THE HYMENOPTERA. By WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD. You are all probably aware that the order Hymenoptera includes those insects known to us under the popular names of bees, wasps, hornets, ants, saw-flies, gall-flies, Ichneumons, and Chalcid-flies, and to-night I shall attempt to give you some idea of their origin, history, and development, their affinities with other orders, and their classification into groups, families, and tribes. I shall also attempt to show how the phytophagous species, under the great law of evolution, gave place to parasitic and predaceous species ; and while I should like to mention some of the interesting and unsolved problems in their life-history, I shall be compelled, for want of time, to confine myself to the subject of my address and merely call your attention to the economic importance of the order. A study of insects demonstrates that the same general laws of development that govern the higher animal life govern insect life and that there is ever an upward tendency to a higher or more specialized type ; since man is the highest type of animal life, so a bee or an ant is the highest type of insect life. Both in their way are remarkable productions of nature. The surprising instincts and wonderful intelligence displayed by many Hymenoptera, particularly among the social species, in the construction of their habitations, in the care of their young and in gathering their food have been noticed and commented upon by many observers. The late Prof. John O. Westwood as early as 1840 says : "If interesting habits and economy, great development of instinctive powers and social qualities be considered as indicating superiority in their possessors, the insects composing the order Hymenoptera have certainly far greater claims to be placed in the foremost ranks of insect tribes than any of their brethren." Sir John Lubbock, known to us all for his researches in many departments of science, also says : " If we judge animals by their intelligence as evinced in their actions, it is not the gorilla and
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