THE DIGGER WASPS OF NORTH AMERICA AND THE 

 WEST INDIES BELONGING TO THE SUBFAMILY 

 CHLORIONIN^E. 



By Henry T. Fernald, 



Of the Massachusetts Agricultural College, Amherst, Massachusetts. 



INTRODUCTION. 



The studies contained in this paper have been based upon the exten- 

 siv^e collections of the United States National Museum, supplemented 

 by the almost equally larg-e collections of the American Entomological 

 Societ}^ in Philadelphia. In addition to these the collections of the 

 Museum of Comparative Zoology of Harvard University in Cambridge, 

 the Carnegie Museum in Pittsburg, American Museum of Natural 

 History in New York, and those of Cornell University, besides a large 

 number of smaller collections from all parts of North and South 

 America and the West Indies have been carefully examined, a total of 

 several thousand specimens in all. All the types existing in this 

 country, so far as known, have been studied, and detailed descriptions 

 prepared directly from them, modified or added to by the study of 

 other specimens of the same species. 



All work on the Chlorioninas must be based upon the admiral)le 

 paper Die Hymenopterengruppo der Sph(»cinen, ])y Fr. Friedrich 

 Kohl, published in Vienna in 181)0. This magniticent work leaves lit- 

 tle to ))e desired for the Chlorioninse of the Old World, but for Amer- 

 ican forms it is hardly satisfactory, as Doctor Kohl was unable to see 

 most of the American types, and their descriptions are usually quite 

 inadequate. The result has been the redescription of many American 

 forms and incomplete data of distribution for many more. Notwith- 

 standing this, the present paper can hardl}" claim to ]>e more than a 

 supplement to the above-named work, intended to accomplish for 

 American species what that paper has done for those of Europe and 

 the East. Even the analytical keys are in many parts only modifica- 

 tions of KohPs, and his kindly assistance has frequently been invoked 

 and always granted. 



So many persons have been of great assistance during the prepara- 

 tion of this paper that it would be impossible to mention them all, but 



Proceedings U. S. National Museum, Vol. XXXI— No. 1487. 



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