84 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 



No. 2. Nine $, one ^ (taken by Mr. Fletcher at Victoria, V. I., 



24-5-S5-) 

 No. 3. One ^ (from Rev. Geo. W. Taylor, Victoria, V. I.), three $. 



No. 4. Two $ , one ^ . 



Although readily separating into these groups, they do not offer any 

 differences of structure sufficient to constitute distinct species. Nos. i and 3 

 have the abdomen entirely black, except that the ^ of No. i has a tri- 

 angular white spot on apex. No. 2 has four segments black, except the 

 ^ , which has only two, as in the European corojiatus. No. 4 has only 

 the first segment black, and the ^ has a white spot on apex. 



The antennae and legs of all have white markings, varying slightly in 

 extent, and Nos. i and 4 have short white lines on face. In the specimens 

 from Victoria the smoky band of the anterior wings extends to the tip and 

 also towards the base. 



I have vainly sought to find a record of any definite information as to 

 the life history of Oryssus. Regarding the European species, Lucas, 

 loc. cit., says " they are found in our woods, in the spring-time, resting 

 upon old trees exposed to the sun, and often upon those which have 

 been cut ; they run very quickly in a straight line, moving also sideways, 

 and even backwards. Fir trees, beeches and oaks are the trees that they 

 prefer." Brulle' (Hist. Nat. des Insectes, Hyf?iefioJ> teres, vol. iv., p. 638) 

 quotes Dahlbom as placing Oryssus near Cynips, and conjecturing that 

 the larvae live in galls. Blanchard (Les Me'tamorposes des Insectes) 

 states that these insects have, " but without doubt wrongly," been 

 attached to the Uroceridse, and that they are "rare Hymenoptera yet 

 unknown in their transformations ; remarkable for the ovipositor of the 

 females, slender and folded under the abdomen. The type, O. coronatus, 

 is sometimes met with in the middle of France." Glover (U. S. Ent. 

 Rept., 1877, p. 94,) affirms that "the larvse bore in the wood of the 

 willow." This is probably an inference on his part from the statement of 

 Harris, that " these singular insects were taken upon a willow tree by 

 my friend the Rev. L. W. Leonard" (Dublin, N. H. ) Norton says, 

 •' little is known of the larva. Latreille and Klug suppose that they 

 exist upon the wood of standing trees. Scopoli found them upon fir 

 trees, and Latreille upon old house-beams." Provancher merely remarks 

 that the larvte are supposed to live upon conifers ; living trees according 

 to some, and dead ones according to others. 



My specimens have, with the exception of the three noted from 



