Mr. Koebele's work in the United States was practically con- 

 fined to two small areas ; that nearly all our material from Aus- 

 tralia was secured in two limited areas in Queensland, while we 

 know that the Dryinidae are common and generally distributed 

 in the tropics and temperate regions alike, and even occur na- 

 turally in Oceanic islands like Hawaii, it is clear that from an 

 insignificant family with few species, this will in time become 

 one of importance, comprising many genera and hosts of species. 

 Particularly in Australia would the student reap a rich harvest, 

 for it must be remembered that we were investigating these in- 

 sects only during six months, and of this time only a fraction was 

 specially devoted to them. Moreover, most of our work was 

 done in cultivated districts, where cane is grown, or on land 

 periodically burnt over, and greatly changed from its natural' 

 conditions, in fact such places as the entomologist bent on pure- 

 ly scientific research would naturally avoid. It is a remarkable 

 fact that the student, and of course nrore particularly the col- 

 lector of leaf-hoppers, should so rarely have noticed these para- 

 sites. One would suppose it almost impossible to collect Ho- 

 moptera for a single day and not notice the conspicuous presence 

 of the larval sac of some of the Dryinidae. They are, too, so 

 extremely easy to breed in confinement, even under most un- 

 natural conditions, such as in a small glass vial, that it is sur- 

 prising how few have been recorded as bred. 



A list of some of the later writings on this family is given be- 

 low, but I have not thought it necessary to refer to those of 

 Westwood, Walker and the old writers. References to these 

 will be found in Ashmead's Monograph of the North American 

 Proctotrupidae. The latter work I have studied very carefully 

 in drawing up the characters of my new genera, and since most 

 of the North American genera are unknown to me, and Euro- 

 pean material has not been procurable at all, I have been greatlv 

 indebted for information concerning these to the Monograph 

 mentioned above, which includes most of the European genera. 



Since that work was published. Dr. Ashmead has entirely 

 changed his views as to the systematic position of the Dryinidae, 

 placing them now with the true wasps, and altogether apart from 

 the Proctotrupids. I regret that I am not at all able to follow 

 the learned American hymenopterist in his latest views on the 

 classification of the wasps, nor with some of his views as to the 

 structure of certain Dryinidae, nor with his conclusions as to the 

 significance of their chelate tarsi. These points will be discuss- 

 ed below. 



