Vol.1] Bradley. — The Taxonomij of the Masand Wasps 403 



Wings longitudinally plaited as in Vespa; cells R^ and R- of the 

 forewing united ; m-cu arising from Cui. Anterior trochanter simple, 

 the front tibia with a ridge beneath, but otherwise the femora and 

 tibiae are without irregular or carinate surfaces; anterior tibial spur 

 of a peculiar shape, stalked at base, the apical portion triangular, 

 acute ; middle tibia with two apical spurs ; larger apical spur of poste- 

 rior tibia bifid at tip ; all claws with a minute tooth well toward the 

 base of each. 



Abdomen entirely sessile, fitting close against the alate angles of 

 the propodeum, convex above, tapered toward apex, concave beneath, 

 the sides strongly margined ; the posterolateral angles of segments 1 

 to 6 produced into a flattened rounded tooth, giving the margins a 

 serrate aspect ; last dorsal segment with its margin notched, resulting 

 in 4 teeth ; last ventral segment with its apical nuirgin shallowly 

 concave. 



Genitalia of the peculiar type shown in figure 52. 



5 differs from the male as follows: club of the antenna more 

 slender, convex beneath and without the cupuliform organs ; mandible 

 blunt, the inner margin near the apex indistinctly serrulate ; labial 

 palpus of three segments, the first stout, curved, M'ith a ventral row of 

 four apical setae , the second short, with two setae of which one is 

 very prominent, the last segment about one and one-half times as long 

 as the second, curved, slightly widened toward the apex, obtuse, with 

 a row of setae extending obliquely across the apex, of which four or 

 five are stout. Wings strongly plaited as in the male ; anterior tibial 

 spur curved, slender throughout, or very slightly widened toward the 

 tip ; hind tibial spur as in the male ; last dorsal segment with its margin 

 merely weakly sinuate ; the last ventral segment large, obtusely pointed 

 at apex, with a median longitudinal ridge. 



Type. — Masaris apiformis Fabrieius; genus monobasic. 



Habitat. — Mediterranean subregion, Africa. 



The difference between the sexes in the labial palpi closely parallels 

 that found in Pseudomasaris, the condition in the corresponding sexes 

 being very similar in each genus. The labial palpi are described by 

 Saussure as of four segments, but this is true of neither sex. That 

 author did not observe the sexual disparity in the palpi, nor has it 

 been previously recorded hj any author, so far as I am aware. In 

 respect to the bifid spur of the posterior tibia this genus is also similar 

 to Pseudomasaris, but of course in many other characters it is very 

 different. 



The generic description is drawn from a study of the type species 

 alone, and it is of course possible that other species may modify it. 



