THE TRIBE CHALCIDINI — BURKS 279 



session of numerous small metafemoral teeth, the long antennal scape, 

 and the wide and deep scrobe cavity in S. coxalis suggest a close 

 relationship with such species as S. femorata (Fabricius) and S. 

 mariae (Riley). The members of the nigricornis group also show 

 some slight relationship with the species of Chalcis. The some- 

 what transverse head of the species of this group and the rather 

 slender metacoxae suggest an affinity with species such as Chalcis 

 harbara (Cresson) or C. microgaster Say. 



The species of the nigricornis group are invariably large, deeply 

 and coarsely punctured, and covered with conspicuous long hair over 

 most of the body. The lateral carinae of the frons are lacking; the 

 scrobe cavity is only moderately deep, and the lateral margins are 

 only partly carinate; the abdomen is strongly compressed laterally. 

 The species of this group are all rare, and those that have been reared 

 have come from the pupae of moths of the family Limacodidae. 



KEY TO SPECIES OF THE NIGRICORNIS GROUP 



1. Hindwings with five or six hamuli (fig. 10, i) ; inner tooth of 



metafemur present 2 



Hindwings with three hamuli (fig. 10, j) ; inner tooth of meta- 

 femur lacking 3 



2. Anterior tentorial pits not connected on meson by a groove ; 



metafemur yellow with black markings (fig. 12, f) nigricornis (p. 279) 



Anterior tentorial pits connected on meson by a deep groove ; 



metafemur entirely black lanieri (p. 283) 



3. Left mandible with three teeth ; outer surface of metafemur with 



an oblique basal stripe coxalis (p. 284) 



Left mandible with two teeth ; outer surface of metafemur not 



with an oblique basal stripe 4 



4. Outer basal tooth of metafemur long, slender, acute, much longer 



than any following teeth (as in fig. 12, i), metafemur yellow 



at base flammeola (p. 286) 



Outer basal tooth of metafemur no larger than following teeth, 



metafemur black at base nortoni (p. 287) 



SPILOCHALCIS NIGRICORNIS (Fabricius) 



FiGUKES 8, n; 10, i; 12, f; 13, a 



Chalcis nigricornis Fabricius, Entomologiae systematicae, suppl., p. 243, 1798; 

 Systema piezatorum, p. 163, 1804. — Jueine, Nouvelle mSthode de classer les 

 hym4nopt&res et les diptSres, p. 316, 1807. — Cbesson, Proc. Ent. Soc. Phila- 

 delphia, vol. 1, p. 228, 1862. 



Smicra nigricornis (Fabricius) Waxkee, Notes on Chalcidiae, p. 51, 1871. — 

 Ceesson, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 4, p. 57, 1872. — Howaed, U. S. Dept. 

 Agr. Bur. Ent. Bull. 5, p. 35, 1885. — Ceesson, Synopsis of the families and 

 genera of the Hymenoptera of America north of Mexico, p. 234, 1887. — 

 Daixa Toeee, Catalogus hymenopterorum, vol. 5, p. 380, 1898. 



Spilochalcis nigricornis (Fabricius) Ashmead, Mem. Carnegie Mus., vol. 1, p. 

 419, 1904. 



