entomlogical section. xxix 



September 9, 1881. 

 Director Dr. LeConte in the chair! 

 The Publication Committee announced the completion of the Trans- 

 actions of the American Entomological Society to page 134. 



Dr. Horn on behalf of the author presented the following paper, 

 entitled 



Studies on the North Ainericstu C'IIAL.€ID1D.£. with «Ie- 

 sci'iptioiis of New Species froiu Florida. 



BY WILLIAM H. ASH MEAD. 



Jacksonville, Florida. 

 [Pai-ku No. 1.] 



The following is the beginning of a series of papers on our North 

 American Chalcididse — a large and extensive family of parasitic hymen- 

 opterous insects comprising the minute forms, which are, however, 

 readily distinguished from all others by their elbowed antennae and 

 almost veinless wings. 



Although they are among the most interesting and brilliantly colored 

 of the order Hymenoptera ; yet up to the present time, when we take 

 into consideration the extent of our continent, comparatively few species 

 have been described. 



These studies are not intended to bo exhau.'^tive but merely pre- 

 liminary — i. e., an attempt to ascertain and group together all that has 

 been written on the subject, and at the same time describe the new forms 

 brought under my observation in Florida. 



The species belonging to the genera Leucospis, Smin-a and (^halcis, 

 have been exhaustively treated by our well known Hymenopterist 

 Mr. E. T. Cresson, in a memoir published in Vol. IV, Trans. Amer. 

 Ent. Soc. 1872. I have, therefore, only to record the new species 

 since its publication. 



S9II€RA Spinola. 



Siiiicr'a gi;;aiitea Asluaead, Canadian Entomologist, vol. xiii, p. 90, ISSl. 



Siniera <ieeeni-puiictata n. sp. — 9 •— I^ength .23 inch. Head, thorax 

 and the large posterior coxse brown-black, punctate; eyes greenish, ocelli black, 

 smooth, and shining; antennae brown becoming reddish-brown towards tip, finely 

 pubescent, scape short: thorax slightly convex, microscopically covered with 

 whitish pubescence, collare very short, transverse, with two small red medio dots; 

 jiarapsidal grooves distinct, an oblong red spot at anterior corners of prsescutellum 

 with smaller ones at posterior corners; two indistinct dots on piece in front of 

 base of wings; scutellum somewhat pentagonal, lateral sides only margined with 

 red which becomes slightly wider posteriorly; abdomen fusiform, attenuated to 

 a sharp point, reddish-brown becoming black towards tip, peduncle moderate; 



MDNTIII.V I'ltor. I'NT. SKC. A. N. S. (7) OCTOBKR, 1881. 



