THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



323 



is unknown, and Syntoraopus has been lately mentioned 

 in the 'Enlomologisl,' and may therefore be passed by with the 

 remark that the species on which it and Elatus are founded 

 should be united to Chrysolampus, and that the names 

 Syntomopus and Elatus should be annulled. 



MEKISUS SPLENDIDUS. 



I 



The genusAsapheshasbeen placed with the Sphegigasteridae, 

 but its biarticulate palpi indicate its affinity to the Spalangidae. 

 Its representative is the Ichneumon Aphidum of Geoffroy, or 

 the Cynips Aphidum of Fourcroy and Olivier, which is said to 

 lay its egg in an Aphis which has been already the victim of 

 an Aphidius; and it is also said that the larva of the Cynips 

 Aphidum, being contiguous to that of the Aphidius, kills and 

 feeds on the latter. 



In 1829 Asaphes Aphidum was printed as Mesoselaelongata, 

 in Curtis's ' Guide to an Arrangement of British Insects,' but no 

 description was then published. In 1834 it was described as 

 Eurytoma senea by Nees, in his Monogr. Hym. Ichneum. afF., 

 and this author suggests that it may be Spinola's Decatoma 

 metallica ; but as the latter species is undescribed, any notice 

 of it is needless. In 1835 it appeared as Asaphes vulgaris 

 in the Ent, Mag., which name was altered to A. aenea in the 

 B. M. Cat. Chal., published i-n 1846. 



Nees observed it in the act of egg-laying in Aphides of the 

 rose, already dead, these having been the prey of Aphidius varius. 

 The original name of the latter is Ichneumon Aphidum, by 

 which designation, as before mentioned, its destroyer was 



