1 903] ASILVEAD : — CYXITOTDEA 



143 



the oak, bramble, rose, and various Compositae being especially subject to their 

 attacks. From the Figitidae they are distinguished principally by abdominal 

 peculiarities, the tergites being shorter and not meeting along the venter, not 

 enclosing or hiding the sternites, as in the former, except in some Anacharines. 

 All, however, have a habitus or tout-etiseinble peculiarly their own, which with 

 practice one soon perceives, and is thus able to recognize the dilTerent groups at a 

 glance. 



Three subfamilies have been recognized, distinguished by the characters 

 employed in the following table : — 



Table of Subfamilies. 



Basal joint of hind tarsi usually shorter than joints 2-5 united or never much 

 longer ; abdomen not or very little longer than the head and thorax united . i 



Basal joint of hind tarsi at least twice as long as 2-5 united ; joints 2-4 scarcely 

 longer than thick, the second with a long spined process outwardly . . 2 



1. Second segment in female very large, occupying the whole or nearly the whole 

 surface of abdomen, very rarely showing an indistinct dividing suture ; if this 

 suture is distinct or complete it is very oblique and the segment dorsally is 

 fully two thirds the length of the abdomen ; males with the second and third 

 segments nearly equal, but here two segments occupy most of the surface of 

 the abdomen ; venter more or less covered basally Subfamily I. Synerginae 

 Second segment in female much shorter, but the longest segment ; the second 

 and third together not occupying two thirds the whole surface or rarely ; 

 venter always visible Subfamily II. Cynipinae 



2. Abdomen very strongly compressed, cultriform, and much longer than the 

 head and thorax united, the four or five basal segments nearly of an equal 

 length Subfamily III. Ibaliinae 



Subfamily I. Synerginae. 



1896, Synerginae, Subfamily VII, Ashmead, Trans. Amer. ent. soc, vol. 23, p. 186. 



1900. Synerginae, Subfamily I, Ashmead, Smith's Ins. New Jersey, p. 548. 



1901. Cynipinae, 2" Tribu (partim), Kieffer, Monogr. des cynipides d'Eur. tom. i, 



P- 54- 



1902. Cynipinae, Subfamille (partim), Dalla Torre et Kieffer, Wytsman's Gen. 

 Ins. p. 2. 



This group is classified by Dalla Torre and Kieffer among the Cynipinae ; it 

 is evidently an offshoot of the genuine gall-makers but now sufficiently differenti- 

 ated in structural characters and in habits to be kept apart. The Synerginae may 



