174 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



group. Where we collect species in uninhabited regions, or at 

 least in countries as yet undisturbed by civilization and cultivation, 

 we may reasonably assume them to be indigenous ; but in most 

 localities any species discovered may have been introduced. 

 Mr. Ashmead read the following paper : 



NOTES ON THE GENUS L-IOPTERON PERTY. 

 By WM. H. ASHMEAD. 



The genus Liopteron was described by Dr. M. Perty, in his 

 sumptuous work " Delectus animalium articulatorum, etc.," pub 

 lished during the years 1830 '34, with one species, L. com- 

 pressum ; and for forty years this was the only representative of 

 the genus known. In 1837, in Guerin's Magazine de Zoologie, 

 Prof. John O. Westwood redescribed the genus and its type, and 

 erected the genus Peras-ior a new and closely allied form with 

 a single species, P. nigra. 



Again, in 1874, Westwood, in his " Thesaurus Entomologicus 

 Oxoniensis," treats of the genus Liopteron and now adds eight 

 new species to the genus, viz., Liopteron abdominale, L. 

 apicale, L. bifasciatum, L. clavicorne, L. fuscicorne, L. 

 nigripenne, L. subpetiolatum, and L. unifasciatum. 



Since this appeared, Mr. Peter Cameron, in Biologia Centrali- 

 Americana, in the part published in 1883, added one more species 

 to the genus, L. ivestwoodii, and the first species to be described 

 from North America, all the others having come from the 

 Amazon region in South America. 



Up to the present time, therefore, only ten species are known. 



In Mr. H. Herbert Smith's collection of South American 

 Chalcididse, now in my hands for determination, several species 

 of this rare genus were discovered, three of which are apparently 

 undescribed, and the present paper is the outcome of a study of 

 this material. 



Prof. Westwood considered Liopteron and his genus Per as 

 to be closely allied to the genus Anacharis Dalman, and late 

 authorities have followed him in these views, Dalla Torre, in his 

 recent catalogue, having placed the genus in the subfamily 

 Anacharinae. 



A careful study of the Herbert Smith material, mentioned 

 above, convinces me Liopteron represents quite a distinct group, 

 and possibly an ancient phyla of the Cynipidae from whence 

 originated some of the Chalcididae {Eurytoma, etc.), and I 

 believe it should be kept separate from the other parasitic 

 Cynipidce. 



In the shape of the head and abdomen (in some species), and 



