THE CANADIAN ENTOMOLOGIST. 145 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE FOSSORIAL, PREDACEOUS AND 



PARASITIC WASPS, OR THE SUPERFAMILY 



VESPOIDEA 



BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, ASSISTANT CURATOR, DIVISION OF INSECTS, 



U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



(Paper No. i.) 

 In the Canadian Entomologist, during the year i8g8, I gave 

 a series of papers on the classification of the horntails and sawflies, 

 representing the superfamilies Siricoidea (Xylophaga) and Tenthredin- 

 oiDEA (Phyilophaga) ; while the past year, 1899, I g^^^ ^ classification of 

 the entomophilous wasps, or the superfamily Sphecoidea (incorrectly 

 spelt Sphegoidea). 



The present year, 1900, with the permission of the Editor, it is 

 my intention to give a similar series of papers on the classification of the 

 superfamily Vespoidea, a large natural group, representing the genuine 

 fossorial wasps, the papermaking wasps, potter wasps, and the predaceous, 

 inquilinous and parasitic wasps. 



The wasps belonging to this superfamily are apparently closely allied 

 to the wasps in the superfamily Sphecoidea, and have been quite recently 

 classified with them ; but they differ too widely, in various ways, to 

 be included in the same family. 



The superfamily Vespoidea I consider a compact, natural group, and 

 it is readily separated from the Sphecoidea by the species falling in it 

 always having the poster io?' lateral angles of the pronotum extending back 

 to and touching the tegulce, leaving no space, or sclerite, between. 



The trochanters in all the families in this superfamily, except in 

 the single family Trigojialidce, are, as in the entomophilous wasps, 

 composed of a single joint ; but in this family, however, there are two 

 more or less well defined joints, a character overlooked when I published 

 my table of superfamilies in the Journal of the N. Y. Entomological 

 Society, Vol. VII., p. 46. 



The table, therefore, should be corrected to read as follows : 



cc. Trochanters 2-jointed. 



Mandibles large, 4-dentate; hind wings with a distinct venation, 

 with two basal cells and a 

 radius Superfamily III., Vespoidea (pars). 



