Rev. F. D. Morice's Notes on Australian Sawflies. 310 



i he " Lydini" and " Cephini" of Konow. To explain the 

 points at issue we may begin by recapitulating briefly the 

 most conspicuous peculiarities of these groups. I have 

 alluded to most of them already. 



The imagines of Cephini, superficially at least, much 

 more nearly resemble Siricidae than Tenthredinidae. They 

 agree with the former also in having one calcar only on the 

 front tibiae, whereas the Lydini and the Tenthredinidae 

 have two. Their ovipositors are much shorter than in most 

 Siricidae, but of a somewhat similar type ; narrow through- 

 out, with comparatively few and simple denticulations 

 shaped like those in the "stings" of Bees and Wasps; 

 and they are generally more or less exserted. Their hind 

 tibiae in most genera are armed (besides the calcaria) with 

 other spines before their apices. In this they agree with 

 the Lydini, but differ from Siricidae and also from most 

 Tenthredinidae, though certain genera of these latter (chiefly 

 Notogaeic and Neogaeic) possess such spines. Their larvae, 

 like those of Siricidae, have no abdominal pro-legs, but, 

 unlike them, they have a pair of small and simple eyes. 

 These characters taken together would suggest that they 

 were nearer to Siricidae than to Tenthredinidae. and might 

 be an aberrant group of the former. Many authors, in 

 fact, have so treated them. 



The imagines of Lydini. on the contrary, have hardly 

 any resemblance to those of Siricidae; but superficially, 

 and also in a character of some importance (front tibia with 

 two calcaria). come much nearer to the Tenthredinidae. A 

 detail of structure, however, in the thorax which they share 

 with the Cephini, distinguishes them from the Tenthre- 

 dinidae. But it also separates them from the normal 

 Siricidae. Their ovipositors are small and little developed 

 in any way, but more like those of Tenthredinidae than 

 of Siricidae. Their tibiae are more copiously spined than 

 those of any other group, and this especially distinguishes 

 them from any normal Siricidae. Enslin, calling attention 

 to their bi-calcarate front tibiae, tabulates them as Tenthre- 

 dinidae but treats the ( 'ephini as a Family aparl (( 'ephidae, 

 Ens].), though he remarks on their likeness to Siricidae. 

 Konow, however, and also Rohwer, form one Family, or (as 

 Rohwer calls it) Superfamily (Lydidae, Konow = Megalo- 

 dontoidea, Rohwer) out of the Lydini and Cephini. 1 

 thought at one time that Enslin was certainly wrong in 

 associating the Lydini with the Tenthredinidae, because the 



