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A female insect producing eggs from which young are hatched, though there has been no fecundation by a male; a parthenogenetic insect. The Virgin, or The Blessed Virgin, the Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord. -- Virgin's bower (Bot.), a name given to several climbing plants of the genus Clematis, as C. Vitalba of Eu…

ed to certain cells (also called nutritive, or yolk, cells) formed in the ovaries of many insects, and supposed to supply nutriment to the developing ova.

The orifice of the oviduct of an insect or other invertebrate.

Any ambulatorial orthopterous insect, as a stick insect.

prolongations which often root at the apex, thus producing new plants. (b) (Zoöl.) A leaf insect. See under Leaf. -- Walking papers, or Walking ticket, an order to leave; dismissal, as from office. [Colloq.] Bartlett. -- Walking stick. (a) A stick or staff carried in the hand for hand for support or amusement when wa…

To fly with a bending or waving motion; to turn and wave, like a flock of birds or insects. A pitchy cloud Of locusts, warping on the eastern wind. Milton.

overlaid with a thin layer of different color; -- said of the colors of certain birds and insects.

Any one of numerous species of stinging hymenopterous insects, esp. any of the numerous species of the genus Vespa, which includes the true, or social, wasps, some of which are called yellow jackets.

Any one of numerous species of large, rapacious, aquatic, hemipterous insects belonging to Belostoma, Benacus, Zaitha, and other genera of the family Belostomatidæ. Their hind legs are long and fringed, and act like oars. Some of these insects are of great size, being among the largest existing Hemiptera. Many of them…

hey are often red or red and black in color, and while young are parasites of fresh-water insects and mussels. Called also water tick, and water spider.

See Waxed end, under Waxed. -- Wax flower, a flower made of, or resembling, wax. -- Wax insect (Zoöl.), any one of several species of scale insects belonging to the family Coccidæ, which secrete from their bodies a waxlike substance, especially the Chinese wax insect (Coccus Sinensis) from which a large amount of the…

The texture of very fine thread spun by a spider for catching insects at its prey; a cobweb. "The smallest spider's web." Shak.

A tree from which honeydew or other liquid secretions of insects drip in considerable quantities, esp. one infested by the larvæ of any species of the genus Ptylus, allied to the cuckoo spits, which in tropical countries secrete large quantities of a watery fluid.

on inclined planes or railways. -- Wheel bug (Zoöl.), a large North American hemipterous insect (Prionidus cristatus) which sucks the blood of other insects. So named from the curious shape of the prothorax. -- Wheel carriage, a carriage moving on wheels. -- Wheel chains, or Wheel ropes (Naut.), the chains or ropes…

White salt, salt dried and calcined; decrepitated salt. -- White scale (Zoöl.), a scale insect (Aspidiotus Nerii) injurious to the orange tree. See Orange scale, under Orange. -- White shark (Zoöl.), a species of man-eating shark. See under Shark. -- White softening. (Med.) See Softening of the brain, under Softeni…

Any one of numerous small injurious hemipterous insects of the genus Aleyrodes, allied to scale insects. They are usually covered with a white or gray powder.

One of the two pairs of upper thoracic appendages of most hexapod insects. They are broad, fanlike organs formed of a double membrane and strengthened by chitinous veins or nervures.

and Pine weevil, under Pine. (b) The larva of any one of various species of lepidopterous insects, especially of the clearwing moths, as the peach-tree borer (see under Peach), and of the goat moths. (c) The larva of various species of hymenopterous of the tribe Urocerata. See Tremex. (d) Any one of several bivalve she…

An insect larva. (d) pl.

A genus of hymenopterous insects including the carpenter. See Carpenter bee, under Carpenter. -- Xy*loc"o*pine, a.