1919.] 



275 



SyCOI'HAGINAK. 



22. 



I\faxillarj palpus with 1, labiiil 2, antenna with 13 joints. 



Sycophaga We.stw. (1840). 



Maxillary palpus 2, labial 1, antenna 11-jointed. No joint in the funicle 



luiu.sLially broad Crossooastkr Mayr (1885). 



Maxillary palpus t], labial 2, antenna 11-jointed. Funicle medianly broadened 

 and tapered both towaids the club and the ring-joint; second joint widest. 



Skuks, gen. nov. 



Maxillary palpus 4, labial 2, antenna U-jointed. First funicular joint much 

 wider than the others Svcokcl'S Waterst. (1914). 



Nv^TE. — Platyscapiis Motsch., which is presumed to be a Sycophagine, 

 should be separable from any of the above by the 9-jointed antennae. 



In the Sycophac/inne there is evidently a considerable variation in 

 the palpal joint formulae which is noteworthy in view of the uniformity 

 prevailing through long series of genera in other families of the Clialci- 

 doidea. This variability, however, does not necessarily imply a distant 

 i-elationship between tlie genera listed above. The peculiar life-conditions 

 of these tiny wasps makes it probable, indeed, that groups exhibiting 

 dift'erenees in structure quantitatively great are phylogenetically closely 

 connected. The many striking structural modifications of the Agaonidne 

 are largely for biting, digging, rasping, and clearing away of vegetable 

 tissue, and in such changes, affecting as they do the mandibles and head, 

 the trophi are liable to be involved. In the Agaonine series, at least, the 

 absence of palpi and the presence of the mandibular appendage are 

 plainly correlated. It is interesting to note by what varied means tlie 

 same result is achieved in this family. In Blastophar/a, Agaon, etc., 

 the rasping lamina is fixed anteriorly to the base of the mandible. In 

 Sycoecus the rasp is the modified fore tibial spur, which is carried for- 

 ward below the head by the elongate coxa and femur to rest in approxi- 

 mately the position occupied by the mandibular appendage in the other 

 genera. In Seres the tibia itself has become a stout rasp and scoop 

 combined, carried forward as in Sycoecus by the elongate coxa and 

 femur. 



Sebes, gen. nov. 



TIead very elongate ; eyes moderately large, mouth-edge with two some- 

 what angular lateral lobes between which is the broadly tiuncated projectin.r 

 clypeus. Toruli midway between ocelli and clypeal edge. Facial impression 

 long and narrow. Antennae U-jointed; scape, pedicel, U\o ring joints, four 

 funicular, and three in club. Funicle and club compressed. Mandibles robust, the 

 right three or four, the left three dentate ; one or more of the teeth in each long,, 

 stout, and falcate ; base of the mandible with strong curved process extending 

 into the head for muscular attachments. Maxillary palpus 3-jointed, the labial 



