INVESTIGATIONS ON THE MTJTILLID WASPS 135 



feiTUginoiis with a median, longitudinal, ovate pit, closely filled 

 with hairs, with large, close, distinct punctures throughout, sparsely 

 clothed with long, erect, black pubescence and with an apical fringe 

 of long, black pubescence; sternites 3-6 with the subapical margin 

 distinctly and closely punctate, and each with an apical fringe of 

 long, black pubescence; ultimate sternite with distinct punctures, 

 and sparse, erect, black pubescence. 



Legs very dark mahogany red, sparsely clothed with long, black 

 pubescence. 



Wings dark fuliginous; cell 2nd R1 + R2 broadly truncate at the 

 apex; cell R4 almost obsolete; vein M3+4 received by cell R5 at one- 

 third the distance from the base to the apex; veins r-m and R5 

 separated on vein r. 



The female of lepeletierii has been identified as ferr-ugata Fabri- 

 cius by American entomologists. Fabricius states in the original 

 description of ferimgata "Abdominis segmentum primum margine 

 nigro, reliquis margine cinereo. Pedes nigri, femoribus ferrugineis." 

 Mutilla fernigata Blake and of subsequent authors does not agree 

 with this description, the apical margin of the second segment being 

 broadly black, and the femora very dark. 



Through the courtesy of Dr. Walther Horn of Berlin I have been 

 fortunate enough to secure the loan of two specimens from the Kiel 

 Museum which apparently are the specimens from which Fabricius 

 drew up his description. These specimens agree with Fabricius' 

 description in every detail. They do not belong to the genus Dasy- 

 inutilla but are representatives of Ashmead's genus TiTnulla. The 

 ferrugata of Fabricius, then, should be removed to the genus TimuTla, 

 The evidence is fairly conclusive that fei^mgata Blake and of sub- 

 sequent authors is the female of lepeletierii^ so it is not necessary to 

 propose a new name. 



Melander (1903) united lepeleti&rii and ferrugata Blake as the 

 male and female of the same species, but this was not accepted by 

 later workers. In the material before me there is a male and female 

 taken at Spring Creek, Decatur County, Georgia, May 18-21, 1916, 

 by J. Chester Bradley with the following note : " Taken together but 

 not in actual copulation." The female is very closely related to the 

 female of hioculata. The male is also very closely related to the 

 male of hioGulata. The geographical ranges of the females and 

 males placed here are the same. All of the evidence taken together 

 seems to indicate pretty clearly that the female fernigata Blake and 

 the male lepeletierii are one and the same species and this view is 

 indicated by the above synonymy. 



Bradley (1916) has pointed out many of the variations that are 

 present in female specimens of this species. The females examined 

 5528'^— 2S 10 



