136 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL, MUSEUM. vol.63. 



26. LEPTACIS PUBESCENS Ashmead. 



Plate 1, fig. 21. 



Leptacis pubescens Ashmead, Bull. 45, U. S. Nat. Mu8., 1893, p. 275. Male. 



Male. — ^Length 1.50 mm. Head distinctly but only slightly more 

 than twice as wide as long, wider than the thorax, shagreened; ver- 

 tex separated from the occiput by a carina; thoracic ratio: Length 32, 

 width 20, height 22; mesonotum pubescent; notauli absent; scutel- 

 lum transverse, pubescent all over, more strongly so on the sides; 

 spine very short, sharp, directed upwards; abdomen a little longer 

 and narrower than the thorax, elliptical, twice as long as wide; second 

 tergite with an indistinct narrow shagreened band along its posterior 

 margm; following segments similarly sculptured; segmental ratios 

 (not counting the petiole): Lengths, 22, 2, 2, 2, 2; widths, 19, 17, 

 16, 14, 10, 5; wings hyaline, with a very short marginal fringe. 

 Black; scape below, pedicel, and anterior legs yellowish brown; rest 

 of legs mostly dark brown and piceous. 



Type locality. — District of Columbia. 



Type.—Csit. No. 25469, U.S.N.M. 



Description based on the type located in the National Museum. 

 An antenna and the right hind leg are mounted in balsam on a slide. 



SPECIES OF UNCERTAIN POSITION. 

 SYNOPEAS NIGRIPES (Ashmead). 



Synopeas nigripes Ashmead, Bull. 45, U. S. Nat. Mus., 1893, p. 286. 



This was originally described as follows : 



Male. — Length 1 mm. Black, shining, with a microscopic sculpture; the face 

 highly polished, with a median impressed line; lateral ocelli twice their width from 

 the margin of the eye. Antennae 10-jointed, black, the flagellum thickened toward 

 the apex, covered with sparse white hairs; pedicel as long as the first and second 

 funiclar joints together, the first funiclar joint small, rounded; club joints, except 

 the last, longer than wide, the last ovate. Mesonotum with two delicate furrows; 

 scutellum convex, with a subobsolete tubercle at tip; metapleura opaque, sparsely 

 pubescent; metanotum subpubescent. Legs entirely black, the tarsi piceous tegular 

 black. Wings clear hyaline. Abdomen ovote, petiolate, as long as the thorax, the 

 petiole and the base of second segment striated, the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth, 

 segments with a transverse row of punctures. 



Habitat. — Washington, District of Columbia. 



Type in Collection Ashmead. (Original description.) 



I am not sure whether this species belongs in Leptacis or Platy- 

 gaster. The spined scutellum would seem to indicate the former 

 genus but the striated first and second tergites certainly exclude it 

 from that group and point rather to Platygaster. Inasmuch as the 

 type has been lost I can not place the species definitely in one genus 

 or the other. 



