HYMENOPTERA. " 393 



front corners of the 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 mellipes, of my " Catalogue," may be merely a va- 

 riety of the preceding, from which it diiFers chiefly in having only 

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

 of an inch long. 1 am indebted to the Rev. L. W. Leonard for 

 specimens of these two species. 



The name of the genus Oryssus comes from a Greek word 

 signifying to dig holes. The insects belonging to it differ con- 

 siderably 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, bemg inserted close to it, under the outer angles of 

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

 equal in the number and size of the joints, in the two sexes. They 

 have a short and thick neck. Their borer is very slender, is en- 

 tirely 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 he 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 nat- 

 uralists, and both of them were European insects. In the year 

 1833, three undescribed species were enumerated in my "Cata- 

 logue of the Insects of Massachusetts ; " and these, in the second 

 edition of the "Catalogue," which was published early in 1S35, 

 received the following descriptive names, by means whereof an 

 entomologist would find little or no difficulty in recognising them ; 

 50 



