166 [January 



I have before me nine specimens of this species which have been 

 attacked by parasitic fungi, similar to that figured by Saussure (Mon. 

 Guep. Soc. pi. 5, fig. 9, and pi. 11, fig. 5) as attacking Icaria cincta 

 and Pollutes americanus, except that the fungi which are developed, or 

 swelled at the ends, have their stalks much longer than is represented 

 in the figure of I. cincta. 



Polistes minor, Beauv. 

 Polistes minor, Beauv. Ins. d'Afr. et. d'Amer. p. 207, pi. 8, fig. 3. Sauss. Mon. 

 Guep. Soc. p. 96, pi. 11, fig. 3. Guer. in LaSagra's Hist. Cuba. 

 Ins. p. 773. 

 Polistes Poeyi, St. Farg. Hymen, i, p. 532. 



Collection. — Ent. Soc. Philad. Fifteen (S $) specimens. 



Polistes incertus, n. sp. 



Dull ferruginous, varied with yellowish ; vertex, middle of antennae, sutures 

 of thorax, most of hind femora and tips of their tibiae, blackish; abdomen 

 banded with yellow; wings stained with yellowish-fuscous, especially along 

 the costa. 



Male. — Head yellowish ; a large quadrate mark on the vertex, en- 

 closing the ocelli, and the posterior margin of the occiput, blackish ; 

 antennae ferruginous, paler at tips and beneath, the middle above more 

 or less blackish. Thorax dull ferruginous; broad margins of the pectus, 

 most of the pleura, tegulae, most of scutellum, and the postscutellum, 

 yellowish ; sutures of the pleura, a spot beneath the base of the wings, 

 margins of the mesothorax, as well as a line down its middle, and the 

 sutures between the scutellum, postscutellum and metathorax, black or 

 blackish ; the posterior middle of the scutellum is dull ferruginous, so 

 that the yellow forms a large spot on each side confluent on the basal 

 middle ; metathorax dull ferruginous, with four longitudinal yellowish 

 lines, one on each extreme side and two on the middle, divided by a 

 deep, shining, blackish groove. Wings uniformly tinged with yellow- 

 ish-fuscous, very deeply so in the costal and marginal cells. Legs yel- 

 lowish, slightly tinged with ferruginous; the coxae within, the four 

 anterior femora at base beneath, the posterior femora except tips, and 

 their tibiae at tips above, black or blackish ; tips of the tarsi ferrugi- 

 nous. Abdomen dull ferruginous, sericeous; basal segment slender at 

 base and gradually dilated to the tip, with a slight prominence on each 

 side about the middle ; base of the second segment rather suddenly 

 constricted ; apical margins of all the segments with a broad yellowish 

 fascia, dilated an each extreme side, more or less emarginate on each 

 side anteriorly, and interrupted on the middle by a very narrow, faintly 

 impressed, dull ferruginous line ; apex subtruncate ; beneath marked 



