Vol. 1] Bradley. — The Taxonomy of the Masarid Wasps 377 



THE PEEANAL EXCISION OF THE FOEEWINGS 



Most Hymenoptera have a notch (the preanal excision) in the 

 margin of the forewing opposite the tip of M,,_^^ -f Ci^^. + 1st + 2d 

 + 3d A. In most Vespidae this is present except in Euparagiinae, 

 where it is lacking. 



THE RANK OP THE "MASARIDAE" 



Not accepting- the enmenid wasps as a family distinct from the 

 Vespidae, I can still less consider the masarid wasps as a separate 

 family. Certain tendencies develop within the masarid line which are 

 sufficiently distinct from what we find in the other solitary Diploptera 

 and social wa::ps, but in every instance such characters are developed 

 within the group, and we can always find genera displaying conditions 

 of the same organs which do not differ from those of other Diploptera. 

 It is worth while to briefly review the organs that have been relied 

 upon for distinguishing betM^een the three so-called families. 



The mouth parts of the more highly specialized Masaridinae, by 

 reason of the retractile ligula, differ completely from those of other 

 Diploptera. The tendency to great or total reduction of the number 

 of palpal segments and of the size of the palpi is also an important 

 group characteristic. But in Euparagia and Paragia the ligula is not 

 retractile, and neither it not the other mouth parts differ otherwise 

 from the simple conditions found in the Eumeninae. 



The antennae in the more highly specialized Masarinae have seg- 

 ments 8 to 13 of the male fused into a club, the divisions between them 

 discernible except that between segments 12 and 13, which is not to be 

 discovered unless the specimen be boiled in caustic potash, in which case 

 the minute segment 13 may sometimes be observed. The antennae of 

 the females have a similar club, but usually differing in shape. In 

 Euparagia, however, the male has 13 distinct and entirely separated 

 segments without a club, the apical part of the flagellum being merely 

 slightly thickened. In Paraceramius lusitanicus the antennae of the 

 male have the apical segments hooked, as in many male Eumeninae, 

 not clavate, and consisting (as in a few Eumeninae) of 12 segments. 



