2 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol.69 



This paper is a contribution from the division of gipsy moth and 

 brown-tail moth investigations of the Bureau of Entomology. I am 

 indebted to A. F. Burgess, in charge of this division for making the 

 study possible. At this point I also wish to express my thanks to 

 Dr. Henry Skinner, of the Philadelphia Academy of Science, Dr. W. 

 E. Britton, of the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, and 

 Dr. H. B. Hungerford, of the University of Kansas, for permission to 

 examine types in their custody, and to Dr. T. H Frison, of the Univer- 

 sity of Illinois, and C. W. Johnson, of the Boston Society of Natural 

 History, for the loan of specimens. S. A. Rohwer and A. B. Gahan, 

 of the division of taxonoraic investigations, United States Bureau of 

 Entomology, have allowed me the use of certain of their notes and 

 have contributed many valuable suggestions. 



CLASSIFICATION 



Superfamily ICHNEUMONOIDEA 

 Family BRACONIDAE 

 Subfamily Braconinae 



Agathidoidae Foerster, Verh. naturh. Ver. preuss. Rheinl., vol. 19, 1862, pp 



228 and 245. 

 Eumicrodoidae Foerster, Verh. naturh. Ver. preuss. Rheinl., vol. 19, 1862, pp. 



228 and 246. 

 Agathidides Marshall, Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1885, pp. 10 and 261. 

 Agathidinae Cresson, Syn. Hymen. N. Amer., 1887, pp. 55 and 59. 

 Agathidinae, Ashmead, Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., vol. 23, 1900, p. 127. 

 Agalhinae Szepligeti, Genera Insectorum, fasc. 22, 1904, p. 115. 



Foerster made two distinct families of this group, basing his divi- 

 sion solely upon the shape of the head. Marshall, however, consid- 

 ered Foerster's Agathidoidae and Eumicrodoidae so essentially 

 similar that he combined them under the name "Agathidides." 

 Ashmead, although appreciating the extremely close relationship 

 between the two families, nevertheless held them distinct as the 

 tribes Agathidini and Microdini, respectively, of his subfamily 

 Agathidinae. A little later Szepligeti again combined these in a 

 single group which he called the Agatliinae. In my opinion it is 

 altogether impossible to divide the subfamily on the basis of the 

 shape of the head. In fact, the study of a large quantity of mater- 

 ial has compelled me to synonymize Agathis Latreihe, which is 

 representative of Foerster's Agathidoidae, with Bassus Fabricius 

 (= Microdus Nees), the typical genus of his Eumicrodoidae. This 

 will be discussed in more detail in the treatment of the genus 

 Bassus. 



Because of certain superficial resemblances Foerster placed Orgilus 

 Hahday in his Eumicrodoidae. On the basis of its margined occiput 

 Ashmead removed the genus to the Blacinae; but Szepligeti still 



