296 Sir S. Saunders' Notes on the 



[Part II.— Read March 1st, 1882.] 



In referring, at our last meeting, to M. Edmond 

 Andre's recent Memoire on the Genus Chalcis of 

 Fabricius, I abstained from entering into certain 

 intricate details respecting the caudiform appendages 

 of the females, whose anomalous characters were elabo- 

 rately discussed by the late Dr. Sichel in his ' Mono- 

 graphic des genres Phasganoplwva, AVestwood, et Comira, 

 Spinola,' in the Annales of the French Entomological 

 Society for 1865 (-Ae serie, tome v., p. 345 ; pi. 9, figs. 

 4 and 5, a— g ; pi. 10, fig. 1, a, h, g). 



This distinguished writer points out that "Le genre 

 PhasganopJiom est principalement characterise par une 

 modification tres-remarquable et singuliere de I'abdomen 

 des femelles, ou, pour etre plus precis, de la valvule 

 anale inferieure {Itgpop/igitim). Celle-ci se prolonge 

 beaucoup en arriere ; concave a sa face inferieure, 

 convexe et fermee a sa face superieure, comprimee sur 

 les cotes, elle enveloppe la tariere, qui ne reste decouverte 

 que dans une portion plus ou moins longue de son 

 extremite posterieure. Cette conformation particuliere 

 de I'hypopygium n'existe dans aucun autre genre 

 d'Hymenopteres " (p. 350). 



The terminal dorsal and ventral segments (epipygium 

 and hypopygium) are thus conjoined ; the latter, en- 

 veloping the terebra and its sheaths, being grasped 

 firmly % the former towards its apex, as though con- 

 stituting a continuous portion of the dorsum itself; 

 thereby inducing an illusory persuasion that the epipy- 

 gium must exist in proximity to the apical extremity of 

 this caudal appendage {cauda, Siehel), rather than in an 

 intermediate position as aforesaid. Dr. Sichel has shown 

 that the true epipijgium in the females is always next in 

 succession to the 5th segment, although the divisional 

 boundaries of the respective segments are sometimes so 

 imperceptibly defined as to lead to erroneous conclusions 

 of their numerical position in the series.* It is the last 



* Note. — Dr. Sichel explains, by the insertion of an additional 

 paragraph (p. 386), that iu Conura flavicans and scutellaris, 

 Spinola was deceived hke himself; " parceque les limites des denx 

 premiers segments etaient indistiuctes et confondues dans uos deux 

 exemplaixes, Dans la figui-e de Spinola (Mag. de Zoologie, 1837, 



