48 Prof. West wood on insects infesting the 



could be the wingless males of CynijJs Psenes or 

 C. Sycomori. 



The memoir of Sir S. S. Saunders, published in our 

 Transactions for 1878, p. 313, has shown satisfactorily 

 that not only are these little wingless creatures the 

 legitimate males of the Blastophaga, but also that the 

 Sijcocrypta of M. Coquerel (Rev. et Mag. Zool., 2nd ser., 

 vii., 365 and 422, pi. 10, fig. 3) is the male of a species 

 of Blastophaga, as well as that the two species of 

 Apocrypta of Coquerel {ibid., pi. 20, figs 1 and 2) are the 

 males of my genus Sycophaga, of which only the female 

 {S. crassipes, Westw., op. snpr., pi. xx., fig. 5) was 

 known, and of which the Chalcis explorator of Coquerel 

 (pi. 10, fig. 4) is certainly another female. 



In my former memoir I pointed out the relationship of 

 these insects with Agaon paradoxiim of Dalman, and 

 added that the curious little group which I described 

 were " certainl}^ referable to the CJialcididce rather than 

 to the Proctotrupidce,'" but that, from their fruit-feeding 

 habits and various anomalous portions of their structure, 

 I hesitated to name any particular group of the former 

 family to which they ought to be considered as most 

 nearly allied. 



M. Coquerel, in describing several species of fig 

 insects, and unacquainted with my former memoir, 

 regarded them as belonging to the Hcterogyna of Latreille, 

 but he hesitated between the opinion of Shuckard, who 

 considered my Typhlopone as being composed of the 

 females of Labidus and Scleroderma as wingless females 

 of Myzinc, and that of myself, who considered Typhlo- 

 pone as neuter Formicidce, and Scleroderma as belonging 

 to the Bethylides. 



M. Coquerel, however, adds : — " Je crois cependant 

 que I'avis de M. Shuckard finira par prevaloir. Je dois 

 me borner, pour aujourd'hui, a faire connaitre trois 

 insectes singuliers que j'ai recueillis a I'ile Bourbon et 

 que je regarde comme les femelles aveugles et apteres de 

 quelque male aile et inconnu, et qui me paraissent 

 devoir prendre place a cote des Scleroderma.'' Of these 

 little apterous insects M. Coquerel found " une infinite " 

 inside the figs, in which he also found the " petits 

 Chalcidites," which " volaient a I'entour," the former 

 living " pele-mele avec les Chalcidites, qui selon toute 

 apparence s'etaient developpes a leurs depens." 



The researches of Sir S. S. Saunders have fully proved 



