CHARLES W. HOOKER. 23 



other later genera. Other genera were eventually proposed 

 and the genus gradually narrowed down to its present limits. 

 From this it will be seen that the Genus Ophion originally 

 covered, intentionally or otherwise, a field nearly as wide as 

 that now covered by the subfamily Ophioninse. In 1829 

 Gravenhorst revised the Superfamily Ichneumonoidea, and 

 Brauns accepted many of his views, giving in 1889 the follow- 

 ing characters for this genus : 



"Head short, transverse, clypeus hardly discernible, foveola dis- 

 tinct on both sides, apex truncate. Mandibles equally bidentate, an- 

 tennae rufous, metathorax rarely distinctly areolated, generally with two 

 transverse basal carinas, sometimes abbreviated or not interrupted be- 

 hind ; front wings with basal and cubital veins strongly converging ; 

 broken in the middle, very often giving off a branch. Mesosternum 

 with median half emarginate, the two basal segments with deep 

 foveae. Claws pectinate." 



On another page he adds : 



"Wings without areola, discocubital cell receiving both recurrent 

 nervures, generally angularly broken, with an appendix ; cubital and 

 basal veins strongly converging." 



Schmiedeknecht summarizes this in his recent work on 

 Hymenoptera of Middle Europe, but credits the genus to 

 Gravenhorst, evidently basing this view on Gravenhorst's 

 revision and considering the Ophion of Fabricius as a sub- 

 family. This view can not, however, be accepted ; the Genus 

 Ophion was in all of its revision credited to Fabricius and the 

 International Code of Nomenclature offers no excuse for 

 change. 



Distribution. 



The members of this the largest genus in the tribe are 

 found all over the world. The American species are widely 

 distributed from southern Alaska to Patagonia, Argentina, 

 including the West Indies. O. bilineatjis has the widest range, 

 apparently occurring over all the above named American 

 territory, but the other species are more restricted. 



Life History and Habits. 

 Comparatively little is known of the life history or habits 

 of members of this genus in spite of the fact that they are 



TRANS. AM. ENT. SOC. , XXX VIII. 



