339 



MISCELLANEOUS. 



On the Hooks on the front Edge of the hinder Wings of certain 

 Hymenoptera. Communicated by Dr. J. E. GRAY, F.R.S. &c. 



A LADY correspondent (E. F. S.), fond of microscopic examination 

 and entomoloffvjaas lately communicated to me some observations 

 on the hooksB Behind wings of Ophion and some allied genera, 

 and sent witr^H ^^ke specimens on which they were founded. 

 They will proh^H ^buiid interesting by some of the readers of 



" Besides the hooKs which are usually described as being on the 

 hind wing just beyond the dark spot on the front margin, there are 

 generally to be observed one or more hooks nearer to the base of the 

 wings than the usual row of hooks. My specimen of Paniscus 

 glaucopterus has none ; but, on looking at it carefully, I find in each 

 of the two wings, just where I should expect the hook, a small mark 

 or scar, which, being exactly like a mark on one of the wings of an- 

 other Paniscus, I believe to be the place where the hook was, and from 

 which it has fallen, as the fellow- wing of that Paniscus has a hook 

 exactly corresponding to this mark. I suspect this hook is easily 

 rubbed off ; but the mark of its insertion (you see I am taking this 

 for granted) is, though faint, yet permanent. Might it not be worth 

 while to mount some of the wings which seem to have no hooks in 

 them, and see if this mark is there ? 



" In the specimen of Hemiteles, it cannot with propriety be called 

 a hook, being perfectly straight. 



" I have put up three of the fore wings, which show well the 

 turning up of the margins for the reception of the hooks in the place 

 opposite where these two sets of hooks are situated in the hinder 

 wing. 



" These sub-basal hooks have been observed in Ophion, Pimpla 

 varicornis, and P. turionellce, in species of the genera Ephialtes, 

 Paniscus (glaucopterus and inquinatus), Pimpla, Hemiteles, and 

 Cryptus. 



" In Ophion obscurus there are two sub-basal hooks ; in Ophion 

 combustus, three. 



"In Paniscus (No. 1) there is one hook, but with three or four 

 strong, thick, short hairs on each side, more like it than the hairs in 

 the line with them. 



" My specimen of Paniscus glaucopterus has none ; but there is 

 the scar of the base of one, as before stated. 



" The hinder wings of the few species 1 have observed show such 

 different characters, that I will make a few observations on each of 

 them. 



" Ophion obscurus has two sub-basal and eight distal curved hooks. 

 There are eight of the transparent dots of Dr. Hicks, in the pale 

 central part of the inosculations of the nerves of the wing, and two 

 smaller ones in a similar situation in the lower nervules. 



"In Ophion combustus there are three sub-basal and seven distal 



