44 PSYCHE [February 



Before eateriai^ into the systematic account of these insects, he discusses fully 

 their early stages — the egg, ^^^ laying, larva, and pupa. The biology of the 

 Cynipidae should come in here but is only briefly touched. The Abbe', however, 

 says : " Nons ne donnons ici que generalities sur la biologic des Cynipes, en nous 

 reservant de traiter cette question plus longuenient plus tard pour chacune des cinq 

 tribus dans lesquelles on re'parti ces insectes." 



A good bibliography of the Cynipidae follows ; this appears tcj be fairly com- 

 plete, the list of papers given numbering 342. No reference, however, is made to 

 Saussure's genus Oberthiirella, described from Africa, a remarkable form falling in 

 my subfamily Liopterinae. 



Abbe Kieffer gives a good resume' of the various schemes of classification 

 proposed for these insects, and has recognized five tribes, viz.: (i) Ibaliinae 

 (2) Cynipinae, (3) AUotriinae, (4) Encoilinae, and (5) Figitinae. 



This arrangement is good ; it is substantially Forster's classification, who 

 called the tribes families, Ibalioidae, Cynipoidae, etc., except that Forster had two 

 additional families, the Megapelmoidae and the Onychioidae. Kieffer has evi- 

 dently merged these with his tribe Figitinae, to which they are undoubtedly closely 

 allied, having originated from a common stem. 



In the opinion of the writer, the families of F(")rster are natural groups, 

 although probably not of equal value, and all should be accepted in the sense of 

 tribes and subfamilies. The termination of these natural groups, whether in 

 oidae, ida, ides, idae, ina, inae or ini, is of secondary importance, until a uniform 

 system, for indicating families, subfamilies and tribes, is established. 



The Cynipides of the older authors, I think, represent a superfamily — the 

 Cynipoidea, with two very distinct families, the Figitidae and the Cynipidae, nearly 

 as was first pointed out by Hartig in 1840.^ 



In my own systematic work in the Hymenoptera, I have conscientiously 

 endeavored to define clearly the families, subfamilies and tribes, making use of 

 the endings idae, inae and /;// to designate each, respectively, so that no mistake 

 can be made as to what the groups really represent. 



The groups recognized by Kieffer as tribes are really natural groups, first 

 pointed out by Thomson and Forster, and should be accepted, whether they be 

 called families, subfamilies, or tribes. 



The first subfamily treated by Kieffer is the Ibaliinae ; it is represented by 

 only a single species in Europe, while in America we have several species. 



' f7(/i? my arrangement, Proc. U. S. Nat. Museum, XXIII, igoo, pp. iqqetse^. 



