JAMES CHESTER BRADLEY 187 



CONTRIBUTIONS TOWARD A MONOGRAPH OF THE 



MUTILLIDAE AND THEIR ALLIES OF AMERICA 



NORTH OF MEXICO 



BY JAMES CHESTER BRADLEY 



As a result of five years collecting in Georgia, I some time ago 

 became much interested in the study of our southern Mutillidae. 

 With the lapse of years this interest has widened, and it has been 

 my good fortune recently to have nearly three months of unin- 

 terrupted leisure, which I have devoted entirely to the study of 

 this family and its allies. Much more material must be gathered, 

 especially from the Southwest, before anything like a satisfactory 

 monograph of the Mutillidae of the United States can be under- 

 taken. At present I wish to present, as a result of my recent 

 work, several papers contributory to our knowledge of the 

 family. 



When the study of a group of insects approaches in any 

 locality what one might term a ciuantitative stage, we begin to 

 feel some confidence in the degree of completeness of our knowl- 

 edge of it in that place. This stage has been approached by the 

 very extensive collections of Mutillidae made by Mr. Nathan 

 Banks in eastern Virginia. I wish to express to him my sincere 

 appreciation of his kindness in permitting me to study his entire 

 collections from that region. His material has pointed toward 

 the solution, or actually solved, manj- ciuestions that have 

 arisen in this work. 



I also wish to express my obligations to the following gentlemen 

 for the loan of material: Mr. G. P. Engelhardt, collections from 

 Long Island; Mr. Wm. T. Davis, collections made in Georgia 

 and Florida; Dr. William A. Hilton, collections from southern 

 California, belonging to Pomona College; Mr. G. M. Greene, 

 collections from New Jersey and Virginia; Mr. Franklin Sherman, 

 Jr., collections from North Carolina; Mr. Carl Schaeffer, the 

 eastern ]Mutillidae of the Brooklyn Museum; Dr. Frank E. 

 Lutz, collections from Florida belonging to the American Museum 

 of Natural History; and Dr. Leonard Haseman, specimens from 

 Missouri. 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XLII. 



