18960 255 



ON THE IDENTITY OF AMPULEX FASCIATA, Jur., 

 AND A. EURO P MA, GiR. 



BT THE REV. F. D. MORICE, M.A., F.E S. 



On July 9tli of this year, while collectiug Hymenoptera near 

 Sierre, in Switzerland, I noticed a strange Aporus-Wke insect scouring 

 rapidly along a wooden fence, close to a " grange " where I had just 

 found specimens of the rare Chrysids nitidula, Fabr., and fasciata, 

 Oliv. With some difficulty I secured it ; but for a long time I was 

 utterly puzzled to make out what it could possibly be. None of the 

 books I had with me threw any light upon it, and it was quite unlike 

 anything I had ever seen. A few days after I was at Geneva, and 

 consulted my kind friend M. Emil Frey-Gessner, the great authority 

 on Valaisan Hymenoptera ; but to my surprise he also was unable to 

 recognise it, nor could we find anything at all like it either in the 

 University Museum or in the collections of M. de Saussure. 



Some ten days after, beiug again at Sierre, I made diligent search 

 in the locality where I had found this strange creature, and was 

 rewarded by the capture of several other specimens — in all five males 

 and one female. It was difficult to catch, as it was extremely shy and 

 agile, and the posts and rails which it haunted, and behind, or under, 

 which it constantly retreated when alarmed, were beset with jagged 

 edges, projecting nails, and the like, which threatened destruction to 

 my net, unless it were managed with great caution. 



It was not until my last day in Switzerland that, by a lucky 

 chance, I was enabled to identify this mysterious insect. Calling at 

 the University to say good-bye to M. Frey-Gessner, I found him in 

 the room where various old collections are preserved, including that 

 of Jurine. This I had never seen, and he was kind enough to unlock 

 it for me. We took out a drawer at random, and both at once uttered 

 a cry of surprise. There, unmistakeably, was a specimen of my 

 unknown insect, and we found attached to it a label in Jurine's own 

 writing — Awipulex fasciata. It was a solitary specimen, whether male 

 or female, I do not remember. 



The insect must be extraordinarily rare. I cannot find that it 

 has ever occurred in Switzerland since Chevrier took the specimens 

 on which Jurine founded the species fasciata. As to the question 

 whether this is identical with europcsa, Gir., Mr. Cameron (Mem. 

 Manchester Lit. and Philosoph. Soc. (4), i, p. 21, 1888) decides it in 

 the affirmative, while the late Edm. Andre ("Species," 1894, p. 157), 

 quoting the descriptions of Giraud and Chevrier in full, has attempted 

 to distinguish the species as follows : — 



