HYMENOPTEBA. 3'J6 HYMNOLOGY. Fossil IIymenoitera. TIu'sc appear in the Mesozoic foniiations in small luiinbera. Only about a dozon species are kiiDwn, mainly from the .lurassic limestones of Solenhofon. Bavaria. The oldest hymcnopterans are nnoostral to the modern ants. In the Tertiary deposits are found representatives of all the important families in fossil forms verj- close to the modern sneeies. In .•Vmerica the best examples are found at Floris- sant in Colorado, and in Eurojw the freshwater shales of Aix, (Kningen, and Kadoboj, and best of all. the amber of the Baltic Provinces, are noted localities. Consult Scudder. "Systematic Review of Our Present Knowledge of Insects," in United States Geological Survey Bulletin, No. 31 (Washington, I8S(i). CLASsiricATio.N. The order Ilymenoptera is divided into two siborders, each containing sev- eral superfamilies, as follows: Suborder Heterophaqa. — Superfamilies: Apoi- dea, true Ijces; Iphecoidca. solitary wasps; Proc- totrypoidea. proctotrypoid parasites; Vespoidea, social wasps; Formicoidea. ants; Ichneumonoi- dea. ichneumon-flics; Cynipoidea, gall-dies; Chal- eidoidea. chaUis-llies. Suborder Phi/lophafia. — Superfamilies: Siri- coidea, horntails; Tenthredinoidea, saw-flies. Biiii.iOGRAPHY. Cresson, Catalogue and Sgnop- sis of the Xorth American Hijmenoptera (Phila- delphia, 1887) : Ashmead, Superfamilies in the Hi/menoplcra (Xew York. 1809) ; Ashmead. The Huhifs of the Ilymenoptera (Cambridge, 1893) ; Howard. The Insect Hook (New York, 1001); Sharp. Cambridge Xatural History, vol. v. (Lon- don. 1895). HYMETTXJS (Lat.. from Gk.•r^kv~i': A mountain range in Attica, about 3000 feet high, now called Trelo-Vuni, between four and five miles east ^f Athens, famous to-day, as well as anciently, for its honej' of excellent flavor. There was also quarried at Hymettus a bluish-gray marble, much i)rizcd in antiquity. HYMNOL'OGY (C,k. i^moyla, hymnologia, from u^n-oXi^yot, hymnologos, singing hvmns, from C'fims, hyunios, hymn; connected with Skt. syunian. bond, Lat. suere, to sew, Ok. Kaff-aietv, l-as-syein, to make shoes, OChureh Slav, sili, to sew, Goth, siujan, OHO. siuu-nn, AS. seoirian, Eng. sew + Gk. -oyta, -logia. account, from yiyttv, legein, to say). The science of hvmns, or the collective body of hymns used at a particu- lar time or place. In the most general sense a hymn is a religious ode or poem ; more S])ecific- ally it is a metrical composition divided into stanzas or verses, intended to be used in worship. In some variety or form the hymn has been thus employed throughout the ages. T^normant pub- lishes an old Aceadian hymn, sung to the moon- god Hurkis, that may have been used at I'r five thousand years ago. The Assyrian tablets fur- nish many six>cimens of the so-called penitential hymns. (Consult Records of the Past.) The religion of ancient Eg>-pt produced hymns of beauty and power. (Consult Renouf. Religion of Ancient Egypt.) In India on anniversary days and in processions there are songs sung to the gods, but these are not of a high character. The Vedic hymns are many of them productions of worth. Buddhist hymns seem to be chiefly for recital or meditation, not for worship. Confucius made a collection of poetry, forty pieces of which are called 'praise songs' or 'songs of the temple and altar.' The Mohammedans have no hymns; they have invocations and addressca. Greece was the land of song, and there was lieard a song on every occasion by every cla,ss to cidebrate | every event. The so-calle<l Homeric hynuis con- sist of brief addresses to the gods. Calliiius, the father of elegy (c. 700 B.C.), and Archiloehus, a contemiKirary, wrote hymns, but none of them have reached us. Simonides, Tyrta-us, Solon of Athens, Alca-us, and Sappho wrote lyric poetry. Roman worship was silent and reverential, but the priests used songs, and the poi'ts wrote ode.s and lyrics. Of the hymns of the New World we know but little. Reville gives a sample of the h,vmns used in the time of the Incas in Soutli America. The hymns, or rather incantations, of the Xorth Americ:in Indians are inferior in qual- ity, though not lacking in weirdness. It is the Hebrew race which produced the highest development of worship poetry before the Christian Era. and it is a generally conceded fact that the Hebrew Psalter has never be<'M equaled as a whole. We get glimpses of the kindred arts, music and poetry, very early in the Hebrew Scriptures. Jubal was "the fallier of all such as handle the harp and organ" (Gen. iv.21 ). And in the same eonnecti(m we hear of the song of Lamech (Gen. iv. 23-24), perhaps the earliest song of Scripture. The song of Miriam (Ex. xv. 21) is the only one preserved of man.v possible improvisations that she may have produci'd. The Xinetieth Psalm ha.s been attributed to Moses, and has been aptly described as the 'swan song of Moses.' In the Book of Numbers (xxi. 14) wi' find the mention of the "B(X)k of the Wars of the Lord." which some suppose to l>e a collec- tion of songs and ballads composed by the camp- fire. In the same chapter (xxi. 17-18) is given the song "Spring Up, O Well." One of the great songs of the Old Testament is that of Deborah and Barak (Judges v.). It is cast in a distinctly metrical form. The song of Hannah (I. Sam. ii.) reminds of the song of Marv (Luke i. 46-55) and it might be called the Magnificat of the Old Testament. The schools of the prophets knew of the soothing influence of music and used it in prophecy, and with it they may have used song also. With the founding of the Temple was founded the temple of Hebrew song. Scholars are not agreed as to the number of psalms com- posed by David. The estimate runs from ninetv- five down to none. Solomon is said to have vrrit- ten 1005 songs, but only two P.salms (Ixxii. and exiii.) have his name prefixed to them. His other poetical productions are rather didactic than lyrical. The Psalms contain many of the poetical productions of exilic and post-exilic times. Jonah ii., Isaiah xii., and Habakkiik iii. are also poetical productions. Robert Lowth was the discoverer of the metrical arrangement of Hebrew poetry, first publishing his discover^' in 1753. Michaelis. Herder, Rosenmiiller. Do Wette, Gesenius. Ran, Hollmann. Gustav Bickel. and others have contributed something to the under- standing of the subject. In the Xew Testament the hymn note is changed. The centre is a person, not a race. The Magnificat of Mary (Luke i. 46-55) is a witness to her talent as a daughter of David, and her piety as a true Israelite. Her song has been much used by the Church, rarely, however, in metrical form. The best metrical version is that of W. J. Irons. The song of Elizabeth
