4 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM vol. 70 



Claws simple, with a single tooth beneath, although sometimes very 

 minute, more rarely without a tooth ; tarsal comb in female absent ; ab- 

 domen always with a one-segmented petiole ; cubital vein of hind wings 



interstitial or neai;ly so 4 



4. Antennae inserted on the middle of the face; metathorax with a large 

 U-shaped area above ; mesopleura not longer than the height of the thorax, 



Sceliphroninae. 



Antennae inserted far anterior to the middle of the face, on or just above 

 an imaginary line drawn from the base of the eyes ; metathorax without 

 a large U-shaped area above ; mesopleura much longer than the height of 

 the thorax Podiinae. 



KEY TO THE GENERA OF THE SCELIPHRONINAE 



Species black and yellow, not metallic ; clypeus flat, at apex usually bidentate ; 

 transverse median nervure in front wings not interstitial with the basal 

 nervure, but uniting with the median vein a little before the origin of the 

 basal nervure; petiole of abdomen about twice as long as the median seg- 

 ment Sceliphron Klug. 



Species metallic blue or violaceous ; clypeus anteriorly tridentate ; transverse 

 median nervure in front wings interstitial with the basal nervure ; petiole 

 of abdomen not or scarcely longer than the median segment, 



Chalybion Dahlbom « 

 Genus SCELIPHRON Klug 



Sceliphron Klug, Neue Schrift. Ges. naturf. Fr. Berlin, vol. 3, 1801, p. 561. 

 Pelopoeus Latretlle, Hist. nat. Crust. Insect., vol. 3, 1802, p. 334. 

 Genotype. — Sceliphron spirifex (Linnaeus), designated by Bingham (1897, 

 Fauna Brit. India, Hym., vol. 1, p. 235). 



The genus Sceliphron was established by Klug in 1801, including 

 under it the following five species: spinfex {Sphex spirifex Lin- 

 naeus), madras p at anum {Sphex inadraspatana Fabricius), lunatu^n 

 {Sphex lunata Fabricius), cyanea {Sphex cyanea Linnaeus), and 

 fuscv/in, a new species. The fourth species, Sphex cymaea Linnaeus, 

 had been placed in the genus Chrysis by Linnaeus in the twelfth edi- 

 tion of the Systema Naturae. The fifth species, described by Klug as 

 fuscum, had already been described by Fabricius as Sphex hemipte^m. 

 None of these species was designated by Klug as the genotype, and 

 for nearly 100 years the genus Sceliphron, was without a designated 

 type species. 



The genus Pelopeus was established by Latreille in 1802, giving as 

 examples Sphex spiHfex Linnaeus and Sphex Imiata Fabricius, 

 neither species being designated as the genotype. In 1810 Latrielle ^ 



* A study of the metallic blue mud-dauber wasps of the genus ChalyMon Dahlbom was 

 published in 1919 by Hutson (Trans. Amer. Ent. Soc, vol. 45, pp. 203-228, 1919), the 

 species being placed by him in the genus Sceliphron Klug. Rohwer has since pointed 

 out (Ent. News, vol. 32, p. 27, 1921) that the name Sceliphron Klug must be used for 

 the black and yellow wasps of this group, because of the designation by Bingham (Fauna 

 of British India, Hymen, vol. 1, p. 235, 1897) of spirifex Linnaeus as the genotype of 

 Sceliphron. For the metallic blue species of mud-daubers, therefore, the name Chalyhion 

 Dahlbom must be used. 



' Cons. Gen., p. 438. 



