ASHMEAD : CLASSIFICATION OF THE CHALCID FLIES 361 



Veins of front wiugs forming a regular arch ; flugellum filiform Poropoea Forstcr. 



Veins of front wings not forming a regular arch Trichogramma Westwood. 



11. Antennae 6-jointed or less 12 



Antennae 7-jointed. 



Wings with a very lonj; marginal fringe .Chaetostricha Haliday. 



Wings with a short marginal fringe. 



Club of antennae 4-jointed Lathromeris Forster. 



Club of antennae 3-jointed Pentarthron ]{iley. 



12. AntenuiB 6-jointed (scape, pedicel, a l-jointcd funicle and a 3-jointcd club), marginal vein about 



thrice as long as the stigmal Centrobia Forster. 



Antennie 3-jointed (scape, pe<liccl and a long, .solid club) ; marginal vein not more than twice the 

 length of the stigmal vein Aprobosca Wcstwood (type A. erosicomis Westw.). 



Familv LXXIII. MYMARID.E. 

 1833. Myniares, Tril)us 5'*, Haliday, Ent. Mag., I., j). 341. 



1839. Mymarida?, Family 17, Haliday, Hym. Syn., p. II. 



1840. Mymarides, Subfamily 6 (Family ProctotrypidtB), Westwood, Intro. Mod. 



Class. Ins. Synop.. p. 7S. 

 1856. Mymaroidje, Familie 28, Forster, Hym. Stud., II., pp. 20, 27 and 110. 

 1897. IMymaridte, Family LXXIII., Ashmead, Proc. Ent. Soc. Washington, IV., p. 

 236. 



This group was correctly defined by A. H. Haliday, first as a tribe and after- 

 wards as a distinct family. 



In 1833 in speaking of it he says: "This tribe comprises the very atoms of the 

 order Hymenoptera. Their hues are mostly black or yellowish, unadorned by 

 metallic splendor : the plumed and iridescent wings of many are beautiful objects 

 for the microscope. The males, by their very long and slender antennae (sometimes 

 more than twice the length of the body), resemble Ichneumons in miniature." 



Every species belonging to the family lives parasitically in the eggs of other 

 insects, and in habits agree with the Trichogrammidiv. 



Stephens, Curtis, Walker, W^estwood, Forster, Thomson and most systematists 

 treat the group as a component of the Prodoiryjmdea and Dr. von Dalla Torre in 

 his Cakdogus Hymenopteromm follows these older authorities and treats it as a sub- 

 family in the Pmdotrypidn'. More than ten years ago I pointed out the structural 

 characters that excluded the group from having any affinity with these insects ; 

 they are widely distinct in many particulars and form a compact natural fomily in 

 the Chalcidoidea, as was first pointed out by Haliday so many years ago. My exten- 

 sive studies into all groups of the Hymenoptera have only confirmed and empha- 

 sized the correctness and soundness of Haliday's views, the ablest systeniatist of 

 his day, and his views should prevail. 



