( 69 ) 



HYMENOPTERA. 



Notes on Hymenoptera, observed during the past 

 Season ; some Observations on Hymenopterous 

 Parasites, and a Monograph of the Family Chry- 



SIDID.E. 



By Frederick Smith. 



Last year I commenced ray observations on the JBLynneno- 

 ptera, by an account of the effect of the most ungenial weather, 

 which prevailed during the entire season, upon the tribe 

 'Aculeata; the effect was principally observable upon the 

 social genera Bomhus and Vespa, a great diminution in the 

 number of these insects being obvious to the most negligent 

 observer. 



It now becomes my province to record the effect of the cold 

 wet season of I860 upon the Aculeate Hymenoptera, as 

 rearards their scarcitv or abundance in 1861. Having; as- 

 siduously collected and observed the Aculeata during the 

 last twenty-five years, I am able to state unhesitatingly, that 

 the past season stands alone for paucity of the Hymenoptera; 

 it is true that some of the social species have been abundant 

 in certain localities, but the almost total disappearance of 

 some species, even of these, is a circumstance that has not 

 occurred in my previous experience. 



It does not fall to my lot to record the capture either of new 

 or very rare species. I have therefore thought it may prove 

 interesting to give some account of the various parasites that 



