128 HTMENOPTERA. 



tified with their winged relatives. Apterous and winged 

 forms are well known to co-exist in other orders of insects, 

 as the Delphacid(B, &c. And among the IchneumonidcB 

 of higher grade than Pezoniachus a tendency of some indi- 

 viduals to the apterous state has been noticed. A species 

 of Ichneumon (Z«^rf/<or, F.) frequently shows this pecuharity. 

 And Mr.Desvignes described as Cry plus hrevipennis a large 

 specimen of that genus which I sent him, and which I am 

 now certain is only the common migrator, F. (Cat. p. 41). 

 The observations which tend to throw light upon a question 

 of this kind are so few and far between that it is unlikely 

 the Pezomachus-^\^Q,\!i\.tj will ever be cleared up. The Le- 

 pidopterists meet with the sexes of that genus occasionally 

 by breeding, but probably few of them are preserved. And 

 unless they receive the best attention in the way of setting, 

 they are useless as specimens. Any small winged Hymen- 

 opteron, if left to itself, is sure to dry with the wings 

 doubled up, or concealing the characters of the abdomen, 

 &c., in some way that renders its identification or descrip- 

 tion impossible. Much has been said against carding speci- 

 mens intended for examination, but the objections apply less 

 to parasitic Hymenoptera than to most other kinds of insects. 

 The parts of the mouth are only of secondary value, and the 

 leading characters are nearly always taken from the upper 

 surface. Without knowing what others may be able to do, 

 I can say for myself that I rarely succeed in naming small 

 obscure specimens unless neatly displayed upon cards. As 

 to running pins through the thorax or scutellum, obliterating 

 the most characteristic parts of the body, it is generally 

 throwing away all chance of identification. When a small 

 insect of this kind is carded, the legs should be stretched 

 sufficiently to allow a side glance at the coxas, which are 

 often important, and if the head is prevented from resting, 



