NO. 2293. PARASITIC CHALCIDOID FLIES— TIMBERLAKE. 187 



the propodeum nearly smooth; dorsum of the abdomen, especially at 

 the fii'st tergite, reticulately lineolate in varying degrees of coarseness, 

 but always much more coarsely scaly than the mesoscutum. 



Pubescence of the head and mesoscutum short and scattered, but 

 rather prominent in the dark-colored species on account of its white 

 color, that of the scutellum, however, often blackish (as in the 

 jiamimus group); the silvery white pubescence of the m^etapleura 

 and upper surface of the hind coxae very thick, appressed, and prac- 

 tically concealing the underlying surface. 



Coloration more or less metallic, greenish black predominating in 

 the species of the jlarninius group ; in the other species the head and 

 scutellum often orange yellow or orange brown; axillae and scutellum 

 always much more opaque than the scutum ; club of antennae always 

 white, and the tegulae white ^vith the apical margin more or less 

 brov/n or blackish; >Adngs always with a broad smoky band across the 

 middle of the disk, the apex in some species also smoky but to a less 

 degree. 



Male. — The two sexes are so similar in almost all details that it is 

 sometimes diificult to distinguish them. In species having an ex- 

 serted ovipositor the m_ales, of course, are distinguished at a glance, 

 and in the other species they can generally be known by a prominent 

 longitudinal fold along the meson of the venter. In three of the 

 known species {vidnus, afncanus, and oculatus) the scape of the male 

 is prominently notched on the upper side just beyond the middle. 



Type of genus.— Ency This flaminius Dalman. (vSelected by Ash- 

 mead, 1900.) 



The genus on the whole is correctly placed in Ashmead's tables, 

 and for one who is familiar with their shortcomings it is easily iden- 

 tified. Hovv^ever, the term ''lenticular" used in couplets 16 and 66 * 

 is undoubtedly inaccurate and misleading, as a menisciform shape is 

 meant. As a matter of fact the head of Homalotylus is more nearly 

 lenticular than it is in the Botliriotiwrax series of genera (although by 

 no means menisciform), and this discrepancy in the tables probably 

 led Brethes to erect the genus Mendozianella. Schmiedeknecht ^ fol- 

 lows Ashmead in this error. 



In Girault's tables ^ Homalotylus is impossibly placed, as the club 

 is not three-jointed but distinctly solid in almost all of the species. 

 Both it and Isodromus Howard should run to Isodromoides Girault 

 (on page 120); the latter genus, however, is apparently only super- 

 ficially similar to these. Girault also uses the term "lenticular" or 

 "convex-lens-shaped" in several places, but defines his meaning on 

 page 183.3 



1 Mem. Carnegie Mus., vol. 1, No. 4, pp. 300, 306. 



2 Genera Insectorum, Fascicule 97. 



• Mem. Queensland Mus., vol. 4, pp. 120-128. 



