230 S. FRANK AARON. 



Colorado; one specimen. The character of the convex lobes on the 

 occiput is very odd, and does not appear in any other species of the 

 family with which I am acquainted. 



Chrysis densa Cresson, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila. ir, 307, 1865; Norton, Trans, 



Am. Ent. Soc. vii, 241. 

 Eleven specimens from Colorado and California, including Mr. Cres- 

 son's type specimens. The color varies from light blue with much green 

 and slight purple reflections to emerald-green with very little blue and 

 no purple ; wings almost clear hyaline in one specimen, in the others sub- 

 flavescent to a more or less degree ; very densely and almost equally 

 punctured all over. There is a great variation in the margins of the 

 third abdominal segment, in that the angle of the posterior and lateral 

 margins is in some specimens over 160°, while in others it is less than 

 140'*. In the latter the posterior margin is much less extended at the 

 apex, and the segment appears quadrate, and the margin between the 

 lateral angles and the notch is arched a little outwardly or straight, while 

 in the former the apical margin is extended in the middle, and between 

 the notch and angles is arched inwardly. The grades exist. This spe- 

 cies approaches nearest the bidentate species, and through the develop- 

 ment of the lateral angles into teeth, and the lobes on each side of the 

 notch into extended points or teeth, probably represents the ancestral form 

 of the bidentate and quadridentate species. 



C — Apical margin of the abdomen unidentate [unilohed). 



Chrysis discreta n. sp.— Head and thorax emerald-green with slight blue 

 reflections, evenly punctured, the punctures a little separated ; basin of face cross 

 striated, front carinated, the carina on each side continued upwardly and nearly 

 surrounding the anterior ocellus ; prothorax not so long as the head ; postscutellum 

 very slightly produced, as in the tridentate species; metanotal spines produced, a 

 little curved, bluntly pointed; abdomen emerald-green with the basal two-thirds 

 of the second segment, broadly on the dorsum, rich blue and purple; punctures 

 equal, even, a little more separated than on the thorax; third segment much nar- 

 rower at the apex, the lateral margins a little sinuate on each side of the central, 

 slightly produced, rounded lobe; pits medium, close, contained in a strong grooye, 

 which ends on each side a little behind the junction of the apical and lateral mar- 

 gins, and which is divided in the middle by a very distinct ridge across tjie pits 

 reaching the apical lobe; wings slightly infumated, tarsi fuscous; length 4.5 mm. 

 long. 9 . 



North Carolina; one specimen. This species belongs to the same 

 group as the Old World species Leachii and succincfula, but is very dis- 

 tinct from them on account of the blue and green abdomen. 



