BRACITi'CYRTINE WASPS — WALKLEY 325 



in having the abdomen dark brown or blackish var^ang to testaceous 

 brown with preapical whitish bands or spots on segments 1-6 onl}^ and 

 not on segment 7 as has the male. Structurally, crossi and pretiosus 

 are very similar, the only difference being the shorter malar space of 

 pretiosus. 



Blanchard and Kreibohm de la Yega say the specimen they saw was 

 reared from Alabama argilacea Huebner, presumably in Tucuman, 

 Ai'gentina. However, Kreibohm vras more accurate in sa^'ing "en la 

 jaula de Alabama" (in the cage of Alabama). The three specimens 

 before me came from Piura, Perii, from caged cotton buds infested 

 with Anthonomus vestitus Boheman. It seems reasonable to assume 

 chrysopid pupae were present. 



Brachycyrtiis ornatus Kriechbaiimer 



Figure l,d 



Brachycyrtus ornatus Kiiechbaumer, Corres. Blatt. Zool.-T\Iin. Ver. Eegensburg, 



vol. 34, Nos. 11-12, pp. 163-164, ISSO (9). 

 Brachycyrtus ornatus Kriechbaiimer; Pfankuch, Deutsche Ent. Zeitschr. (1912), 



pt. 4, pp. 456-457, figs. 1-3, 1912 (d^). 

 Brachycyrtus chrysopae Walley, Canadian Ent., vol. 72, p. 86, 1940 (9). New 



synonymy. 



Dr. Rene Malaise of the Naturhistoriska Riksmuseum, Stockholm' 

 Sweden, always a most helpful person, lent me for study a female 

 specimen identified by E. Clement as Brachycyrtus ornatus Kriech- 

 baumer. It fits the original description quite well. G. S. Walley 

 not only sent for stud}^ a female specimen of B. chrysopae, which like 

 the type specimen came from southern British Columbia, but also 

 sent notes on the type, for which I am grateful. In the Townes col- 

 lection, kindhf lent me for study by H. K. Townes, is a series consisting 

 of eight specimens taken by him and his wife at Takoma Park, Md. 

 These Mr. Walley had checked with his holotype. This series plus 

 additional specimens from the Townes collection and the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum collection show quite well the extent of va,riation as 

 well as the constant characters. With this material it was easy to 

 see that ornatus and chrysopae are sjTionymous. Unfortunatel}^, the 

 earlier descriptions of ornatus stressed the tribal characters and 

 color. Cushman had not seen any specimens of the genotype so could 

 not include it in his 1936 key to the specimens of Brachycyrtus. 



This is the darkest of the known species belonging to Brachycyrtus 

 and varies in size from 5 to 6 mm. The identifying characters other 

 than color pattern are: Epomiae nearly attaining the dorsal margin 

 of the pronotimi; malar space about one-half as long as width at base 

 of mandible; and the nervulus postfurcal by only little more than half 



