298 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vOL.ioe 



Females have been seen ovipositing on several occasions. Notes 

 made on June 20, 1942, at Takoma Park, Md., are as follows: Two 

 females were seen ovipositing in midafternoon. They were in rank 

 undergrowth of damp woods, about 40 cm. above the ground. They 

 ran over the leaves in the manner of a Macrophya, about every four 

 seconds going quickly to the edge of a leaf and curling the abdomen 

 over the edge to oviposit on the undersurface near the edge. This 

 oviposition movement was very quick, being completed within a sec- 

 ond. The eggs were distributed at random, one or more to a leaf. 

 One female was ovipositing on Viburnum acerifolium and the other on 

 a composite similar to Sericocarpus. On June 21 a third female was 

 caught and confined in a jar with fresh leaves of Liquidambar. On 

 June 23 it was dead. Examination of the leaves showed 8 to 10 ex- 

 tremely minute, elongate-oval eggs, presumably laid by this female, 

 loosely attached to the leaves about 2 mm. from the edges. 



Remarks: This is a species of the Transitional Zone of the Eastern 

 States. Adults are moderately common from early summer to mid- 

 summer in damp rich woodlands, where they occur on the foliage at 

 about the 35-centimeter level. They crawl over the foliage or take 

 short flights. In size, coloration, and movements they mimic several 

 of the species of sawflies and ichneumonids that are common in the 

 same habitat. 



Genus Lycogaster Shuckard 



Lycogaster Shuckard, The Entomologist, vol. 1, p. 123, 1841. Type: Lycogaster 

 pullata Shuckard. Monobasic. 



There is a single Nearctic species, which is divisible into two sub- 

 species. 



Lycogaster pullata Shuckard 



Forewing of male about 6 mm. long, of female about 9 mm. long. 



This species is transcontmental in the Transition Zone. Frag- 

 mentary evidence indicates that it occurs in more open and dry 

 habitats than the other Nearctic trigonahds. It is represented by 

 an eastern and a western subspecies, as indicated below. 



Key to the subspecies of Lycogaster pullata 



1. Tibiae black, the middle tibia white basally and the front and hind tibiae 

 white basally and externally; abdomen black, often with some white marks; 

 range: Atlantic Coast west to 100th meridian. 



(a) pullata pullata Shuckard 



Tibiae pale yellow, the hind tibia often infuscate apically on the posterior 



side; abdomen black with broad pale yellow bands; range: Nevada, Colorado, 



North Dakota, and New Mexico . . . (b) pullata nevadcnsis (Cresson) 



