Rev. F. D. Morice's Notes on Australian Sawflies. 311 



isation," though it may ba remarked that the wings of 

 extinct (fossil) Sawflies .seem to lack certain veins which 

 are well developed in such living forms as come nearest to 

 them, and that long-isolated groups sometimes (as, for 

 instance, in Australia) have a distinctly less complete 

 neuration than that which prevails in Arctogaeic forms. 

 We shall presently see that certain veins are always wanting 

 in Australian genera, which are either invariably, or at least 

 g( nerally, present in non-Australian Sawflies, and this and 

 other facts seem at first sight to conflict with the view that, 

 when a vein usually present is absent in certain cases, it 

 existed in them formerly, but has since been lost. I will 

 reserve this subject, however, till I come to deal in another 

 Note with the special peculiarities of Australian Sawflies. 



Hitherto I have throughout been using the word " Saw- 

 flies " in its widest S3nse, including under it the two Lin- 

 riearj " genera or, as most authors would now call them, 



Families" — Sirex and Tenihredo.* But it is often also 

 applied (with or without deliberate intention) to the latter 

 only, and in America — but not, I think, in England — 

 vernacular names have also been proposed for the former. 

 Comstock, e.g., in his well-known Manual (10th edition, 

 1912) distinguishes " Tenthredinidae. Sawflies," from 

 "Siricidae. Horn-tails," and Rohwer (15>11) writes on the 

 '" Genotypes of Sawflies and Wood-wasps," etc. In Germany 

 (from Panzer, Schrank, Christ, etc., onwards) many authors 

 have called them respectively " Blattwespen" and " Holz- 

 wespen" ( Leaf-wasps and Wood- wasps), but I doubt if 

 in this country we shall ever bring ourselves to call a sting- 

 less insect a, wasp ! To an English reader the name Wood- 

 wasp would rather suggest a Hornet (or perhaps a " Vespa 

 sylvestris ") or some such creature as a Pemphredon or a 

 wood-boring ( 'rabronid. 



But to proceed : whatever names we are to substitute 

 for Tenthredo and Sirex as originally distinguished by Linne 

 (and for the moment 1 shall follow Comstockin calling them 

 respectively Tenthredinidae and Siricidae), the differences 

 between the two groups are very important, and suggest a 



* The vt Law of Priority " as at present interpreted has made it 

 necessary to restrict both these names to a few only of the species 

 originally included in them, and unfortunately both of them haw: 

 been restricted to different groups by differenl authors. How- 

 ever, as none of these groups contain any Australian species, except 

 the (imported) Sirex, or " Paururus,'' or " Urocerus," juvencus, no 

 more need be said here on this subject. 



TRANS. ENT. SOC.LOND. 1918. — PARTS 111,1V. (MAR.'19.) Y 



