NOV., '02] ENTOMOLOGICAL XKU'S. j;^ 



unhanded beak and by the brownish color in addition to all. 

 It probably occurs throughout the State where the conditions 

 that will permit its breeding, exist. 



Notes on Vespoidea. 

 Bv H. L,. YIKRECK. 



Polybia nigripennis (Fabr.) 



Polistes nigripennis Fabr. Syst. Piez., 1804, p. 272, n. 14. 



Polistes nigripennis I). T. Cat. Hyni., ix, 132, 1894. 



Clypeus vvitli the anterior edge forming an obtuse angle, a little broader 

 than lon^. Front with an impressed line extending from the anterior 

 ocellus down to a little distance above the margin of the clypeus. 



9 Length 15 mm. The entire tegument opaque covered with a very 

 tine and short golden pubescence, that on head and thorax shortest, not 

 so apparent as that on the thorax, which has a beautiful golden lustre 

 when held in certain lights. There are a few scattered punctures on the 

 clypeus. First joint of flagellum as long as the two following joints united. 

 Prothorax and mesopleurae finely indistinctly punctured. The upper half 

 of the latter has a crooked impressed line near the posteri< r margin. The 

 dorsulum has a median impressed line extending to near the middle, a 

 median, longitudinal, impressed line on the postscut^llum and on the pos- 

 terior face of the metathorax. 



Testaceous or light brown, abdomen and legs darkest, head and last 

 four segments of abdomen black, wings fuliginous. 



One specimen in Coll. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Phila., from 

 Georgetown, B. Guiana, S. Am. 



Polistes carnifex Fabr. 



Vespa carnifex Fab. Syst. Entom., 1775. 



/'o/isfcs major Sauss not Beauv. Etud. Fam. Yespid. ii. p. 90, 1853. 



r<>/is/ t 's caniiff.v Sauss in part. Id. 



Po/isfes caruifc.v Fox in part. Proc. Calif. Ac. Sci., iv, 112, 1^95. 



Clypeus . more deltoid than quadrate, distinctly convex. Clypeus in 

 $ longer than wide. 



9 Lt'ii^lli 28 mm. Clypeus with sparse punctures, a raided point 

 between the insertion of antenna-. Metathorax with a median longitu- 

 dinal furrow, the surface transversely striated. First joint of tlagelluin 

 as long as the following three united. Entire tegument opaque, covered 

 with an almost imperceptible golden, short pubescence. The head above 

 the dorsulum, first half of antenna 1 , a triangular mark on apical margin of 

 each side of metathorax, the furrow on tin- same, the legs, excepting the 

 small tarsal joints and parts of the COX36, liist segment, exceping apical 

 bands, the second .ill but the apical halt, the third, with the u\ceptjoii of 



