10 PROC. ENT. SOC. WASH., VOL. 20, NO. 1, JAN., 1918 



Front tibiae in female more or less deeply excavated below beyond 

 middle; middle tibiae also usually annulated; tegulae usually 

 whitish, though sometimes brownish apically; front coxae 

 testaceous aequalis Prov. 



The latter species shows variation in all the characters toward 

 the condition existing in tenuicornis, and it is very possible that 

 tenuicornis is simply an extreme and comparatively rare varia- 

 tion from the more typical form. 



Both of these species belong to the genus Pimplidea Vier. 

 The synonymy is given below: 



Pimplidea tenuicornis (Cresson). 



Pimpla tenucornis Cresson, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phil., IV, 1S65, p. 267. 

 Meniscus marginatus Provancher, Nat. Can., XIV, 1883, p. 15. 

 Meniscus ashmeadii Provancher, Addit. Faun. Can. Hym., 1888, p. 430. 



Pimplidea aequalis (Provancher). 



Pimpla annulipes Authors, not Brulle. 

 Pimpla aequalis Provancher, Nat. Can., XII, 1880, p. 36. 

 Pimpla conquisitor var. rujuscula Davis, Trans. Am. Ent. Soc., XXIV, 

 1897, p. 368. 



Ichneumon inquisitor Say, transferred by later writers to 

 Pimpla, was renamed inquisitoriella by Dalla Torre because of 

 the preoccupation of the specific name in Pimpla. Say also de- 

 scribed what he called Ichneumon inquisitor var. a. Later 

 Walsh described his Pimpla coelebs. 



Say's description of inquisitor is very brief, and it is impossible 

 to determine exactly what it was. But that it was an Epiurus 

 there is apparently no room for doubt. Its general form and 

 structure preclude the placing of it elsewhere. It was probably 

 closely allied to, if not the same as, (Pimpla) Epiurus indagator 

 (Walsh). But the synonymizing of the two is inadvisable be- 

 cause of the fact that in his description Say stated that his speci- 

 men was reared "from a larva (of a Bruchusf) which feeds in the 

 seeds of Clematis." The exact status of inquisitor Say can 

 therefore be determined only by rearing it again from the seeds 

 of Clematis. Say's variety a is undoubtedly the same as coelebs 

 Walsh, and its description as a variety of inquisitor is partly 

 responsible for the great confusion in literature of biological 

 data. 



Pimpla coelebs Walsh belongs to the genus Iseropus. . 



In the records of the host relations published in connection 

 with the names inquisitor Say and inquisitoriella Dalla Torre it 

 is very evident that several species are confused. Those re- 

 ported as having been reared from such hosts as Lairrna eloisella, 



