HYMENOPTERA OF AMERICA. [PART I. 



general appearance, which is much more easily detected than 

 described. 



The habits of the Vespida are quite different; some being 

 ial, some solitary, living by rapine, and some parasitic. 



These three moral tendencies correspond to the special forms 

 which characterize the groups, into which we have separated the 

 following subfamilies: — 



I. Masakin/r. or Parasitic Wasps. — Wings having an indistinct duplica- 

 tion. Antennae sometimes enlarged into a club, their last articles often 



ed together. Prothorax generally convex before. Scute! superposed 

 upon i aws of tarsi general); unidentate; posterior and inter- 



niedi erminated by two articulate spines. Lip quadrifid or bifid. 



Wings having but three cubital cells. Eyes slightly emarginate. 



II. Ki'mknix/H or Odynkkjx/K 1 or Solitary Wasps. — Wings having a more 

 distinct duplication, always offering four cubital cells. Antennae suhfili- 

 forni. with the articles distinct. Lip lengthened, quadrifid. Claws of the 

 tarsi unidentate. 



III. Yksimn.t:. or Social Wasps. — Having the same characters as the 

 Eumeninae, but the claws of the tarsi not toothed; the wings always 

 having a very distinct duplication ; the lip short, quadrilobed. 



The Masarina can easily be distinguished by the inner neura- 

 tion of their wings, etc. ; but the solitary and social wasps pre- 

 few distinctive general characters, that they are always 

 puzzling. It will hardly be deemed superfluous to give here a 

 table of empirical characters which may assist in distinguishing 

 them in every case. 



1 In my " Etudes sur la Famille des Vespides" I have given to this tribe 



the ■ ens (Eumeninai), after the oldest genus of the tribe. 



as the genua Odynerus is much more important, and as the tribe 



Vespina is named after a sessile genus, I have thought best to adopt in 



rence that of Odyneriens (Odynerince) for the sake of conformity in the 



names of both tribes. 



