254 THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGISt. 



usual. The first discoidal cell in Athalia annu/ata is, however, 

 similarly petiolated. The antennte alone, therefore, offer an)' very striking 

 difference : They are four-jointed, the third joint being very long, the 

 fourth or last very minute. At first sigh: they appear wholly different 

 from other sawflies, and I was almost inclined to consider them of family 

 value, as I have the three-jointed antennae in the Hylotomid?e ; but on 

 submitting them to a high-power lens I was able to see that the long 

 third joint was resolvable into seven indistinct annulations, caused by 

 the amalgamation of seven distinct joints. This discovery demonstrated 

 that the antennte were originally, in ages long past, lo-jointed, and had 

 an affinity with such genera as Athalia and Phyllotoma. I therefore 

 consider Blasticotoina to be an anomalous Selandriid. Like At/ia/ia, it 

 probably had its origin in the tropics, and has been changed structurally 

 in its struggle for existence in a colder clime. 



In addition to the 4-jointed antennse, the genus may be further 

 distinguished by the following characters : 



Hind wings with two discal cells ; claws with a small tooth within ; 

 ovipositor subexserted Blasticotoma, Klug. 



Subfamily III. — Selandriin^e. 



This subfamily differs from the others, except the Biasticotomince, by 

 having the lanceolate cell, in the front v/ings, contracted a little before 

 the middle, but still open, the contracted part not quite attaining to the 

 subtnedian vein. This cell is also sometimes divided by an oblique or 

 transverse nervure between this contraction and its apex, a character 

 frequently found in the Strongylogasterince, arfd thus some Selandriines 

 might be easily mistaken for species in that subfamily. The Strongylogas- 

 terines, however, are always distinguished by the more elongate shape, 

 the larger, more quadrate head, longer antennae, longer scape, and by the 

 more distinct costal cell, the costal vein being slenderer, not so much 

 thickened towards apex. 



The number of joints in the antennas, 9-22, readily separate the 

 Selandriines from the Blasticotomiiice. The abdomen is always short, 

 oviform, the head transverse, the temples rather narrow ; the vertex, seen 

 from the side, convexly rounded from the ocelli to the base of antennae ; 

 there is no well-marked furrow or groove between the antenn?e and the 

 eyes, as in the Tenthredinidce, while the scape is small, not or scarcely 

 larger than the pedicel. 



The genera may be readily recognized with the aid of the following 

 table : 



