72 MODERN CLASSIFICATION OF INSECTS. 
This family exhibits a singular diversity of structure in many of 
the species, and of which we meet with nothing analogous throughout 
the order. Thus, in the subfamily Mymarides, the wings are orna- 
mented with very long marginal bristles ; and in two of the species 
(Mymar pulchellus, fig. 78. 16., and a species discovered by the Rev. 
A. Matthews), the fore-wings are very long, consisting only of a long 
linear branch, dilated and spatulate at the tip. In some species of the 
Platygasterides, Plat. (Inostemma Hal.) Boscii Jurine, &e. (fig. 
78. 13.), the basal segment of the abdomen of the females is furnished 
with a thick curved horn, which extends over the back of the thorax 
and head (and which Le Clerc de Laval thought was the sheath of 
the ovipositor, but evidently incorrectly). Some of the species have 
one or more of the basal joints of the antennz singularly nodose of 
dilated, and in the genus Diapria the males have all the jeints nodose 
and beautifully verticillated ( fig.’78. 9.). In the genus Galesus Curtis 
(Psilus cornutus Panzer) the head is produced beneath into a long 
rostrum, formed by the elongated mandibles’; and in some specimens 
of this genus the anterior wings have a notch at the extremity. Such 
is the case in one given to me by Latreille under the name of Psilus 
cornutus ; and Say has described a genus with similar wings under the 
name of Coptera. (Boston Journ. Nat. Hist. vol. i.). In Gonatopus * 
the females (jig. 78. 15. G. pedestris) are apterous, with the thorax 
singularly constricted, and the anterior tarsi (as well as in the females 
of Anteon) are terminated by curious large reflexed claws, which 
open and shut like those of a lobster, which Esenbeck (who forms 
these insects into a distinct family, Dryinei, on account of the structure 
of the sting-like ovipositor) thinks may be used to enable them to seize 
and retain hold of insects to be by them carried into their already 
provisioned nests. 
From this great diversity of structure, the present family neces- 
sarily presents many points of relationship with other groups. Thus 
Latreille, in his earlier works, followed more recently by Esenbeck 
and Boyer de Fonscolombe, introduced the genera Platygaster, Scelio, 
and Teleas into the family of Chalcidide +, chiefly on account of the 
paucity of joints in the palpi. Mr. Haliday, in like manner, regards 
* Mr. Haliday has published an account of a curious encounter which he wit- 
nessed between Gonatopus pedestris and some ants. (nt. Mag. No. 7.) 
+ Latreille evidently considered that these genera ought naturally to belong to the 
Proctotrupid, as we see by his observation, Gen. Cr, &c. vol. iy. p. 30. 
