HYMENOPTERA. 429 



on each side of the head. The body is black, witli a spot on 

 the front corners of tlie thorax, and six spots on each side of 

 the abdomen, of a white color. The legs are reddish yellow 

 or honey-yellow, with dusky feet. The wings are transparent, 

 and have blackish veins. The body measures from six tenths 

 to nearly three quarters of an inch in length. This insect is 

 found on the trunks of trees of soft wood, in August. 



Xiphydria meUipes, of my " Catalogue," may be merely a 

 variety of the preceding, from which it differs chiefly in having 

 only four white spots on each side of the abdomen. It is four 

 tenths of an inch long. I am indebted to the Rev. L. W. 

 Leonard for specimens of these two species. 



The name of the genus Oryssvs comes from a Greek word 

 signifying to dig holes. The insects belonging to it differ 

 considerably from the other Uroceridce, but, from what little is 

 known respecting them, they appear to have the same habits. 

 They have a cylindrical body, almost rounded behind, or bluntly 

 pointed, and not distinctly horned. Their heads are large, and 

 very rough on the front. Their antennae appear to come out 

 of the mouth, being inserted close to it, under the outer angles 

 of the visor; are rather short, curved, and thread-like; and are 

 unequal in the number and size of the joints, in the two sexes. 

 They have a short and thick neck. Their borer is very slen- 

 der, is entirely concealed in a deep and narrow chink under 

 the hinder part of the body, and is coiled up at its base, so 

 that it can be darted out to some distance when extended. 

 The fore legs of the females are very thick, and have only 

 three joints to the feet; while the rest, as well as all of the feet 

 of the male, are five-jointed. Their wings have but few veins 

 and meshes in them. These insects are active, fly quickly, 

 and love to alight and run about on the sunny side of the 

 trunks of trees, wherein they are supposed to lay their eggs. 



For a long time, only two kinds of Oryssus were known to 

 naturalists, and both of them were European insects. In the 

 year 1833, three undescribed species were enumerated in my 

 "Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts;" and these, in 

 the second edition of the " Catalogue," which was published 

 early in 1835, received the following descriptive names, by 



