some allied Genera of Hymencpteroiis Insects. 249 



retaining tlie latter genus in the present family, I have, perchance, 

 been too much influenced by the authority of Latreille, and have 

 too much relied upon the general resemblance exhibited by the 

 veining of the wings and singular hind feet of Pelcciniis and 

 Foenus, which may prove but analogous relations, although Evania 

 proves to us that the veins of the wings even in the typical genus 

 may be subject to become obsolete. In one character, indeed, 

 Proctotriipes differs from Pelecinus, the former having only four 

 joints to the maxillary palpi, whilst they are 5-jointed in the 

 latter.* 



The tarsal ungues are entire in Pelecinus. The male differs 

 only from the female in the structure of the abdomen, as noticed 

 above ; unlike the latter, in which the segments are of nearly 

 equal length, the basal joint alone equals three-fourths of the 

 entire length of the abdomen. The basal portion is slender and 

 cylindric, but about the middle of the segment there is a kind 

 of knot which has the appearance of an articulation, and beyond 

 this knot the segment is gradually incrassated. The four remain- 

 ing segments are very short. 



This genus was instituted by Latreille in the " Bulletin de la 

 Societe Philomatique," No. 44 (1797 — 1801), and was adopted 

 by Fabricius in his " Systema Piezatorum," from the third volume 

 of Latreille's " Histoire Gencrale," &c. p. 329. 



Sp. 1. Pelecinus politurator. 



The typical species was originally figured by Druryf under the 

 name of Ichneumon polylurator, the latter name being evidently a 

 misprint for 'politurator, being intended to apply to the highly 

 polished appearance of the insect. This name was however 

 changed by Latreille and Fabricius into the unmeaning title poly- 

 ceralor, which must of course be rejected. It was described by 

 Fabricius under the name of — 



Ichneumon polycerator, Fabr. Sp. MS. 1, 430, No. 63; Mant. 

 Ins. 1, 265, 75 ; Gmelin, p. 2691, 141.J 



Pelecinus polyccrctlor, Latr. Fabr. 



Drury received his specimen from Jamaica, but Fabricius gave 



* Mr. Curtis figures them in Proctotrupes as 5-jointed, but in his description 

 he expresses his doubts as lo this being their true structure. My dissections 

 (Introd. to Mod. Class, vol. ii. p. 167, fig. 78, 4) agree with the description of 

 Latreille, Haiiday, and Nees von Esenbeck. 



t lllustr. Exot. Ent. vol. ii. pi. 40, fig. 4. 



t Latreille, Hist. Nat. 13, 196, refers to Linnaeus, probably by mistake for 

 Gmelin. 



