304 ENTOMOLOGICAL SOCIETY 



Mr. E. T. Cresson, from specimens received from Cuba, and 

 placed by him in the family Braconidag. 



The insect is extremely rare and has not yet been recorded in 

 our faunal lists, although several specimens have passed through 

 my hands, taken in various parts of the United States. 



Mr. Theodore Pergande took a single specimen, many years 

 ago, at St. Louis, Missouri. The American Entomological 

 Society of Philadelphia possesses, besides the types from Cuba, 

 one or two specimens collected by Mr. H. K. Morrison in North 

 Carolina. Mr. Chas. W. Johnson took three specimens some 

 years ago at St. Augustine, Florida (one of which he has kindly 

 given to me), while recently I have identified a single male 

 taken by Prof. H. Garman at Louisville, Kentucky. 



These captures not only prove the extreme rarity of the insect 

 but show that it is widely distributed throughout our fauna, and 

 we may expect to hear of its being taken in many other localities 

 in the United States. 



It has also been recorded from Hayti and San Domingo. 



The genus was erected thirty years ago by Mr. Cresson in his 

 paper entitled " Hymenoptera of Cuba," published in the Proc. 

 Ent Soc. of Phila., vol. iv, p. ^8, where he placed it in the 

 family Braconidrc. 



Three years later, in the Proc. Ent. Soc. of London, Prof. 

 Westwood, having- overlooked Mr. Cresson's description, on 

 account of the position assigned it, rechristened it Sibyllina, 

 placing it among the Vespidas. 



In the discussion following the presentation of Prof. West- 

 wood's description, Mr. Frederick Smith, at that time the highest 

 British authority on the Hymenoptera, gave reasons for believing 

 the genus should be placed in the family Ichneumonidas, although 

 he had previously considered it an ant and placed it in the family 

 Poneridas. 



He says: k 'I had myself, after a somewhat cursory examina 

 tion, referred it to the ants and had placed it in the family 

 Poneridse. A few years ago I had an opportunity of submitting 

 it to Dr. Nylander, who thought I was right in so doing, but I 

 must admit he had only time to give it a very slight examination." 



Six years later, or in 1874, Westwood again treats of this 

 remarkable insect in his sumptuous work " Thesaurus Entomo- 

 logicus Oxoniensis," p. 130, and on plate xxiv gives us for the 

 first time a most excellent figure of it with details. 



In this work Prof. Westwood gave a complete summary of 

 what had been written upon this insect up to that time, and from 

 which I shall quote. He says : 



" This curious genus was considered (doubtingly) by the late 

 Mr. Haliday (one of the most profound hymenopterists) as one 



