1903] ASHMEAD:— CYNIPOIDEA 7 



CLASSIFICATION OF THE GALL-WASPS AND THE PARASITIC 

 CYNIPOIDS, OR THE SUPERFAMILY CYNIPOIDEA. i. 



BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD, A. M., ASSISTANT CURATOR, U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 



In 1899, the writer separated the Hymenoptera into ten superfamilies, viz. — 

 (i) Apoidea, (2) Sphecoidea, (3) Vespoidea, (4) Formicoidea, (5) Proctotrypoidea, 

 (6) Cynipoidea, (7) Chalcidoidea, (8) Ichneunaonoidea, (9) Siricoidea, and (10) 

 Tenthredinoidea, and all of these have been classified down to genera, except the 

 Formicoidea and the Cynipoidea. 



During the year 1903, in a series of papers in Psyche, I propose to give my 

 views on the classification of the Cynipoidea, a large, natural group falling in 

 between the Proctotrypoidea and the Chalcidoidea, and still imperfectly known in 

 this country, although well represented in genera and species. 



An excellent resume of the various schemes of classification proposed for these 

 insects by Hartig, Giraud, Thomson, Forster, Walsh, and others is given by Cam- 

 eron in his Monograph of the British phytophagous Hymenoptera, vol. 3, p. 152 ; 

 also by Kieffer in his Monographic des cynipides d'Europe et d'Algerie, vol. i, p. 

 51, so that I shall not repeat them here; they should be read by all interested in 

 these wasps, as they show briefly the great progress made in the study and classifi- 

 cation of these obscure insects, and how the 7iaticral groups have been gradually 

 evolved, until to-day they are firmly established, whether they be called tribes, sub- 

 families, or families. 



Most writers on these insects consider that they represent but a single family, 

 the Cynipidae, with many subfamilies. In my opinion, however, there are at least 

 tzvo well-marked families, nearly as first pointed out by Hartig. One of these com- 

 prises all the parasitic species ; the other, with the exception of a single group, the 

 Ibalimae, comprises the gall-makers and the gall-inhabiting species. The Ibaliinae 

 are, however, a peculiar group and may yet be elevated to family rank. 



The two famiUes may be recognized by the use of the following table : — 



Table of Families. 



Abdominal tergites meeting along the venter and entirely inclosing or concealing the 

 sternites, at most with only a part of the hypopygium exposed. 



Family LVIII. — Figitidae. 

 Abdominal tergites not meeting along the venter ; all or nearly all the sternites 

 visible. Family LIX. — Cynipidae. 



