XOVITATES ZOOLOGICAE XXIV. 1917. 121 



CHALCIDIDAE OF THE SEYCHELLES ISLANDS. 

 By L. MASI. 

 With an Appendix by J. J. Kieffer. 

 (75 Figures.) 



[Note. — ^The material dealt with in this paper forms part of the collections 

 of the Percy Sladen Trust Expedition to the Western Indian Ocean in 1905 

 and 1908-9. The results of this Expedition have hitherto been published all 

 together in one work, consisting of certain special volumes of the Transactions 

 of the Linnean Society of London : five of these are already complete (Ser. 2, 

 Zool., vols, xii-xvi), while a sixth (vol. xvii) is in course of publication. Cir- 

 cumstances have, however, rendered it impossible for all the reports to appear 

 in the Linnean Society's publications, and it is owing to the kindness of the 

 Editors of Novitates Zoologicae that the report on Chalcididae is printed here. 



With the exception of two specimens, the entire collection of Chalcididae 

 was obtained in 1908-9 in the mountainous granitic islands of the Seychelles. 

 In most of the groups of insects from those islands hitherto investigated, the 

 bulk of the species and specimens collected by the Expedition were taken in 

 the very peculiar endemic forests which remain in the highest mountains at 

 elevations between 1,000 and 3,000 feet, in which by far the greater part of 

 the collector's time was spent. Among the Chalcidids, however, a strikingly 

 large proportion was found among non-endemic vegetation at lower levels, 

 particularly in the narrow cultivated plains and small marshes which fringe 

 the coasts of the islands in certain places. The only Chalcidids taken in any 

 of the other archipelagoes visited by the Expedition are the two examples 

 referred to above, i.e. the types of Hockeria testaceitarsis Cameron, from the 

 coralUne Cargados Group, and of Stilbula insularis Cameron, from an atoll in 

 the Chagos Group : both are referred to below. A first set of the material, 

 including the types of all new genera and species, has been placed in the British 

 Museum. — Hugh Scott.] 



INTRODUCTION. 



The collection of Chalcididae described in this work was made by Mr. Hugh 

 Scott in the Seychelles Islands during the second half of 1908 and the early 

 part of 1909 ; it consists of nearly 550 examples, belonging to 69 genera and 

 93 species. The genera new to science are 22 in number, and the .=pecies which 

 I have been able to distinguisli as new are 77 * ; but there are 3 species of which 

 the determination is doubtful, and 7 that remain undetermined, either because 



* The description and diagrams of one of the new species, Centrobia maheneis, vrere made some 

 years ago by Professor Dr. J. J. Kieffer. They have not previously been published, but now appear 

 in an appendix at the end of this work (p. 2.30). 



