40 BULLETIN 45, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 



stigma small. Legs pale ferrugiuoiis, the femora witli a dusky streak 

 above. Abdomen black, liighly jjolislied, oval, shorter than tlie thorax. 



Habitat. — Jacksonville, Fla. 



Tylje in Coll. Ashmead. 



Distinguished at once by the absence of the mesonotal furrows and 

 the longer and different shape of the x)rothorax. It is scarcely- con- 

 generic with the others; but as I have but a single specimen and the 

 mouth parts can not be examined I must be content to allow it to re- 

 main here for the present. In general api)earance it closely resembles 

 the S in Mesitins. 



SCLERODERMA Latreille. 



Geu. Crust, et Ins., iv, p. 119 (1809); Westw. Traus. Eut. Loc. Lond., ii, p. 164 

 (1839) and 1881, p. 17; Thes. Ent. Oxou., p. 169. 

 Sclerochroa Forster Hym. Stud., ii, p. 168 (18.56). 



Head large, subquadrate, above convex ; eyes in 9 small, the ocelli 

 wanting; in S , eyes and ocelli normal. 



Antenna^, 13-jointed, longer in the S , shorter and more incrassated 

 in the ? . 



Maxillary pali)i short, 5-jointed, the apical joints slender; labial palpi 

 3-jointed. 



Mandibles small, obtuse at apex, 4-dentate. 



Thorax elongate, the prothorax large, triangular or semiovate; ine- 

 sonotum scutelliform ; metathorax oblong, in 9 narrowed basally. 



Front wings in i without a stigma or stigmal vein, and with only 2 

 short basal cells, the other cells entirely obliterated; 9 apterous. 



Abdomen iu $ ovate, iu 9 greatly elongated, cylindrical and pointed 

 at apex. 



Legs short, thick, the femora much swollen, tibial spurs 1, 2, 2; claws 

 simi)le. 



The characters of the male sufSciently separate this genus from other 

 forms, but to distinguish the females from those in closely allied genera 

 is (luite difficult. I am convinced that many females described under 

 this genus, by European authorities, do not properly belong in it, but 

 will be found to belong to other genera, /. e., Pristoccra, Lsobracliiitni, 

 and Difisomphalns, as the mouth parts can not always be satisfactorily 

 examined. 



Only a single species is known in our fauna, as follows: 



Scleroderma luacrogaster Ashm. 

 (PI. II, Fig. 6, 9.) 

 Sclorochioa iiiaciofrastcr Asliin. Ent. Am., iii, p. 75, 9 ; Cress. Syu. Hym., p. 247. 



9. — Length, 3""". Head oblong-quadrate, black, polished; thorax 

 and legs rufo-piceous, the knees and tarsi, honey-yellow; metathorax 

 honey-yellow ; abdomen black. Antenna' 13-iointed, honey-yellow, one- 

 fourth hmger than the head, the sca])e about one-third the length of 



