NEARCTIC STEPHANIDAE — TOWNES 367 



3a. MEGISCHUS BICOLOR SICKMANNI (Schletterer), new combination 



Strphanus siekmnnni Schletterer, Berlin. Ent. Zeitschr., vol. 33, p. 152, 1889. 



Type: 9, Georgia (Berlin). 

 Megischus cnnndensis Davis, Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 24, p. 349, 1898. Type: 



$, Toronto, Ontaria (Philadelphia). New synonymy. 



Head and pronotum brown to blackish. 



Specimens. — 15 <? , 26 9 , from Arizona (Chircahiia Mountains and 

 Sabino Canyon) ; California (Santa Rosa Mountains) ; Connecticut 

 (Cornwall) ; Delaware (New Castle County) ; District or Coluimbia 

 (Washington); Iowa; Kansas (Leavenworth County); Maryland 

 (Plummers Island and Takoma Park) ; Massachusetts (Framing- 

 ham and Holliston) ; Michigan (Deerfield Township and Midland 

 County) ; Missouri (Kansas City) ; New Jersey (Cresskill) ; New 

 York (Auburn, Bronxville, Farmingdale, Ithaca, and Wading River 

 on Long Island) ; North Carolina (Hertford County) ; Ohio (Dela- 

 ware County and Puritas Spring) ; Pennsylvania (Glenside and 

 Hummelstown) ; Texas (Austin, Brownsville, Cisco, Dallas, and Sab- 

 inal) ; Utah (Emery County) ; Virginia (Cape Henry, Falls Church, 

 and Nelson County) ; and West Virginia (West Sulphur) . The spec- 

 imen re})orted above from Kansas City, Mo., was reported and de- 

 scribed by Viereck (Trans. Kansas Acad. Sci., vol. 19, p. 325, 1905) 

 as Stephanus acutns of Lepeletier and Serville. The true '"'' Stephanus''' 

 acutus is a Neotropical species. 



Adults are on the wing through the summer and are most com- 

 monly taken in July and August. Some early and late dates of col- 

 lection are April 25 at Dallas, Tex., June 6 at Plummers Island, Md., 

 and September 10 at Cape Henry, Va. An adult was reared from 

 Quercus hicolor at Hummelstown, Pa., by J. N. Knull, and one taken 

 on dead Populus grandidentata at Ithaca, N. Y., by W. W. Middle- 

 kauff. I took a short series on a standing dead beech {Facfus grandi- 

 folia) at Takoma Park, Md. The tree had been dead about 4 years, 

 and the bark was beginning to fall off but most of it still adhered 

 tight l3^ On the bark of the trunk the stephanid looked much like a 

 Xorides (Ichneumonidae) , but one male and one female were seen 

 with the head and fore part of the thorax raised high from the trunk 

 and the hind legs spread wide apart. In the case of the female the 

 hind legs were closely applied to the bark. The male in this position 

 was cleaning its antennae. When a net was put near a specimen on 

 the trunk, it would walk away backward and would be slow to take 

 flight. Flight, walking, and other movements were all sluggish. 



3b. MEGISCHUS BICOLOR BICOLOR (Westwood). new combination 



Stephanus Ucolor Westwood, Ann. Nat. Hist, vol. 7, p. 538, 1841. Type: $, 

 Georgia (Llnnaean Soc, London). 



