MONOGRAPH OF TPIE NORTH AMERICAN PROCTOTRYPID^. 15 



with tlie iuteriial walls of the abdomen, their tips beiug sharply pointed, 

 needle-like, and nsually niicroscopically seiiated. The spiculte are 

 nsed for piercing or boring, and move forward and backward on the 

 upper iilate as a saw in the hands of a carpenter. 



Figs. 7 and 8 represent the terebra of EiyiiriH grandis, one of the 

 largest species in our fauna. The different parts are lettered identi- 

 cally as in r. caudatns. Here the tube (or outer .sheaths conjoined) 

 {.'■ths) is short and conical, and is the form most connnonly met with in 

 the family. 



At Fig. 9 two cross-sections of the ovipositor proper are shown — A 

 from near the base, B from nearer the apex, the breadth and thickness 

 varying slightly in accordance with the tai)ering of the ovipositor. 

 The transverse diameter of the upper plate averages about 0,0J:2'-"' ; 

 of the basal plates or spicuhe, 0.015""", w^hile vertically they average 

 0.018'"™ in diauieter. 



It will be seen that the structure of this cross-section agrees fairly, 

 well with others that have been made of the terebrant Ilymeuoptera, 

 the only real difference being the much larger canals through the 

 center of the three pieces and the small additional canal in the lower 

 inner angle of the spicuhe. 



All the canals have apparently a nu^mbrauous lining, and unless they 

 have something to do with the control of the ovipositor their function 

 is not apparent. 



MALE GENITALIA. 



It takes so much time to thoroughly study the organs of generation, 

 on account of their minute size, in most groups of the Ilymeuoptera 

 Parasitica, besides the almost absolute certainty of the destruclion of 

 valuable siDCcimens, that most entomologists are content to depend 

 upon external characters for the recognition of species, and conse- 

 quently comparatively little is known of the male genitalia in any 

 family composing this section, although there can be no doubt as to 

 the specific and classificatory value these organs possess. 



In order to give some idea of these organs in the ProctotypidiC, on 

 PI. I, I have figured the male genitalia of three different species. 



Fig. 10 represents the male genitalia of Epyris carlonarius: A, the 

 parts viewed from above; p, penis or penal sheath, strongly exserted, 

 in outline narrow, harp-shaped, although strongly flattened like a leaf, 

 bilobed at apex, the lobes with rounded margins; at the middle (o) is a 

 longitudinal slit or opening, the orifice for the fleshy penis. On each 

 side of the penis, attached to a swollen lobe at base, are two horny 

 sheaths, a pair on each side, that may be termed respectively the upper 

 and lower sheaths ; us is the upper sheath. In this species it is slender 

 and gradually acuminate, or lanceolate; Is is the lower sheath; it is 

 much larger, broader, and more rounded at apex, although it is here 

 divided by a longitudinal slit into two more or less distinct points, each 



