AMERICAN HYMENOPTERA. 127 



joints, pedicel as long as the first and second joints of the flagellum. 

 Mandibles bidentate; maxillary palpi 3-jointed, labial 2- (possibly 

 one) jointed. Head narrowed in front of the eyes, the antennal 

 projection about twice as wide as long, sharply rounded on the cor- 

 ners. Eyes greatly reduced, much smaller than the last joint of the 

 antennae and with few ommatidia. Ocelli large, prominent and 

 arranged in an equilateral triangle upon the vertex, enclosing a 

 space about equivalent to the eye. Thorax quadrate, slightly pro 

 duced at posterior angles ; prothorax nearly half as long as wide, 

 truncate in front rounded behind ; mesonotum narrower than pro- 

 notum, about three times as wide as long. Wings wholly absent. 

 Scutellum trapezoidal, rounded on the posterior angles; metathorax 

 deeply emarginate in the center, forming two rather acute back- 

 wardly directed teeth. Abdominal petiole short. Abdomen some- 

 what shorter than the head and thorax ; basal segment twice as 

 long as the remainder of the abdomen, broadly emarginate at the 

 base, widest just behind the middle. Third and fourth segments 

 about equal, short; last longer. Legs short and stout; femora, 

 especially the four posterior ones, considerably swollen, spur of an- 

 terior tibiae stout and bifid at the tip ; those of the other legs not 

 well developed. 



Auxopaedeutes <*o<lalis sp. nov. 

 Female. — Length 1.25 mm. Fuscous, head piceous. antennae and legs ferrugi- 

 nous. Body quite hairy, the hairs longest and thickest on the antennae and the 

 posterior part of the abdomen. Head and thorax smooth and impunctured. 

 Abdomen with a large deep semi-circular depression at base, sharply bounded in 

 frout by the raised anterior margin of the second segment, and rounded behind, 

 almost as wide as the base of the abdomen. First segment obliquely striate at 

 its anterior lateral corners, the abdomen elsewhere smooth and convex. 



Described from a female specimen collected by Dr. Win. M. 

 Wheeler on the banks of Bull Creek, Travis Co., Texas. It was 

 found in a nest of Solenopais molesta, and is undoubtedly a true 

 myrmecophile of this minute ant. 



The form of the antennae recall somewhat those of Solenopsia 

 Wasmann, but the insect is otherwise quite different and I have not 

 been able to determine its systematic position with any degree of 

 assurance, placing it in the Diapriida?, although it resembles mem 

 hers of the Belytidse in having a large pronotum, The antennae 

 resemble those of the Diapriidae in having 12 joints. The number 

 of antennal joints in ant-nest inhabiting forms tends to be unusual, 



TEANS. AM. ENT. SOC, XXIX. MAECH, 1903. 



