HYMENOPTERA. 225 



The fourth tribe, that of the Chalcidi^e, Spin., onlydiffers essentially 

 from the preceding one in the antennae, which are geniculate, those 

 of the Euchares alone excepted, and which, from the elbow, form an 

 elongated or fusiform club, of which the first joint is frequently 

 lodged in a groove. The palpi are very short. The radical cell is 

 •usually wanting; thei'e is never more than one cubital cell, which is 

 not closed. The number of joints of the antennae, never exceeds 

 twelve. 



We may refer the various genera established in this tribe to the 



Chalcis, Fab. 



These Insects are very small, and are decorated with extremely 

 brilliant metallic colours; most of them enjoy the faculty of leaping. 

 The ovipositor, like that of the Ichneumons, is salient and frequently 

 composed of three threads ; the larvae are also parasitical. Some of 

 them, on account of their extreme minuteness, live in the interior of 

 tlie almost imperceptible ova of Insects. Others inhabit galls and 

 the chrysalides of the Lepidoptera. I suspect that they do not spin 

 a cocoon. 



Some, in which the antennae always present eleven or twelve joints, 

 have the posterior thighs very large and lenticular, and their tibiae 

 arcuated. 



Here the abdomen is ovoid or conical, pointed at its extremity, and 

 pediculated; the ovipositor is straight, and rarely salient or external. 

 The wings are extended. 



Some are known in which the antennas of the males are flabelli- 

 form. 



Chirocera, Lat* 



Those of the others are simple in both sexes. 



CHALCis,^?qpe;'. — Vespa, Sphex, Lin. 



Some have the abdominal pedicle elongated; such are those found 

 in marshes, and called sispes and clavipes by Fabricius. They are 

 both black. The posterior thighs of the first are yellow; those of the 

 second are fulvous. 



IVI. Daliiian — Anal. Entom., p. 29 — has formed the new genus 

 DiRRHiNUs, with an African species of this division, that is remarkable 

 for its deeply bifid head, which, as well as the mandibles, is prolonged 

 anteriorly. 



Two other species, inclosed in amber, where the antennae suddenly 

 terminate in a large ovoid and triarticulated club, and where the ovi- 

 positor is salient and as long as the body, seem to him to form a par- 

 ticular genus, which he calls Palmon. See his Memoir on the In- 

 sects inclosed in Amber, V, 21 — 24. 



In the others, the pedicle of the abdomen is very short. Such are 

 C mirmta ; vespa minuta, L. Very common on the flowers 

 of umbelliferous plants; black, with yellow legs. 



* Chalets pecticornis, Lat., Gen. Crust, et Insect., IV, 26. 



