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tural characters he carried the generic classification of all of 

 the superfamilies, excepting that of the ants, to completion. 

 Perhaps the most striking one of the series is that on the 

 Cynipoidea ; but the one which made the greatest stir, was that 

 on the Ichneumonoidea. The hundreds of genera of this 

 group, scattered in a most discouraging way through all sorts 

 of journals, the despair of the systematist, were now available 

 to all in synoptic form. European Hymenopterists began to 

 describe new genera and species from all parts of the world. 

 To this paper was appended his synoptic table to all the fami- 

 lies, 94 in number, that he recognized in the Hymenoptera. The 

 largest of these classifications, and the one which Doctor Ash- 

 mead considered the most important, is that on the Chalcid- 

 oidea. These tiny insects had long been his favorites, and his 

 arrangement of them will long serve as the basis for their 

 study. To this paper was added a catalogue of the South 

 American chalcidids, with descriptions of over 200 new species. 



In the progress of these studies he made a number of 

 important changes in the position of various families. His 

 adoption of the superfamily idea enabled him to exhibit the 

 family relationships to better advantage. He subordinated or 

 abandoned the venational characters, and drew more heavily 

 upon the structure of the body for main divisions. The fami- 

 lies of the old " Fossores " were arranged in two superfamilies, 

 several of them being united with the chrysidids, eumenids, 

 bethylids (formerly part of the Proctotrypidas), and the ves- 

 pids to make the superfamily Vespoidea. The other fossorial 

 families, forming the superfamily Sphegoidea, were shown to 

 have more affinity with the bees. The Proctotrypoidea were 

 associated more closely with the Vespoidea than with the other 

 micro-Hymenoptera, and the Braconidse were united with the 

 Ichneumonidse to make the superfamily Ichneumonoidea. 



These revolutionary changes in the old-time systems have 

 naturally awakened much discussion, and the undoubted ten- 

 dency is now to follow Ashmead, at least in most of his views. 



As an appendix to his main lines of study we may place his 

 descriptive work on the Philippine Hymenoptera. This came 

 in during his work on the classification. He felt that the 



