OF WASHINGTON. 239 



basal nervure rather strongly curved inwardly; median and submedian 

 cells equal; radial cell triangular, a little longer than the stigma; areolet 

 wanting. The head, when viewed from in front, is oblong, smooth, 

 polished; eyes large, extending to base of mandibles; antennae broken 

 at tips, but the basal joints of the flagellum are more than twice as long 

 as thick; thorax narrowed anteriorly, without parapsidal furrows, the sur 

 face, except just in front of scutellum, smooth and polished; metathorax 

 very long, smooth and polished, except an oblong space at base above 

 which bears a median sulcus. 



Hab. Ottawa, Canada (W. H. Harrington). 



Mr. Howard read the following paper : 



ARRHENOPHAGUS IN AMERICA. 

 By L. O. HOWARD. 



It is with peculiar pleasure that the American systematist rec 

 ognizes for the first time an American representative of a 

 European genus ; but when, as in the present case, the European 

 genus is monotypical, and its single representative is one of those 

 extraordinary insects which upset preconceived systematic views, 

 the pleasure becomes doubly great. In 1888 Dr. Christopher 

 Aurivillius, in the Entomologisk Tidskrift, described the 

 genus Arrhenophagus, devoting a full-page plate to its structural 

 characters. The insect was bred in large series from the males of 

 Chionaspis salicis. So peculiar was the form that Aurivillius 

 was at a loss when he attempted to place it in its proper sub 

 family. In its general facies the insect resembles, the Encyr- 

 tinae ; its habits are those of this group. To the Encyrtinse it 

 is further related by its wing venation, the tarsal claw of the 

 middle legs, the undivided mesopleura, and the undivided meso- 

 scutum. The Encyrtinae, however, is one of the subfamilies of 

 the pentamerous group of the Chalcitlidae, and it is further charac 

 terized by the possession of more than eight antennal joints. 

 Arrhenophagus proved to be tetramerous, and its antennae were 

 but three-jointed. On the whole, Aurivillius was inclined to 

 retain the insect, temporarily at least, among the Encyrtinae. 



Having in mind the somewhat similar state of affairs with 

 regard to the number of tarsal joints in Coleoptera, and its 

 peculiar history in classification, it occurred to me that we might 

 have in this insect a cryptopentamerous group of the Chalcididae ; 

 and that further proper mounting and clearing of specimens 

 would reveal additional antennal joints. I therefore wrote to 



