440 Mr. G. Meade-Waldo on 



a considerable difference of 0})iiiion about the time when 

 Henri de Saussure was workinjj^ at his invaluable * fitudes 

 siir les Vespides/ At a meeting of the Entomological 

 Society of France (January 26th, 1853), M. E. Blanchard 

 exhibited the male Masaris vespiformis which had served as 

 the actual type of Fabricius, and was preserved in the 

 Paris Museuim (Bull. Soc. Ent. Fr. p. vi, 1853). 



This specimen was collected in Barbary by the botanist 

 Desfontaines. Grave doubts as to the correct identification 

 of Masaris existed among those who had not been able 

 to examine the Fabrician type, and for this reason 

 M. Blanchard asked the Society to appoint three of its 

 members to inquire into the matter. Messieurs Goureau, 

 L. Fairmaire, and Guerin-Meueville were appointed for this 

 purpose. At a later meeting ]\I. Leon Fairmaire made it 

 the subject of a special report, whicb Mas afterwards 

 criticised by Saussure. 



Dr. Schaura, who held different views on Masaris as 

 understood by Fabricius, Latrcille, and Blanchard, wrote 

 fully on the subject (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr. (3) i. p. 653, pi. :20. 

 fig. 1, J ? , 1853). There can be no doubt that the insect 

 figured by Schaum as M. vespiformis, Y., is not the typical 

 form described by Fabricius from Barbary, but a new sub- 

 species from Egypt, which it is intended to describe below. 

 Observations on the fine series of M. vespiformis from 

 Morocco, collected by Escalera and now in the British 

 Museum (Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist. (8) vii. p. 113, 191 1), laid 

 the foundation to an enquiry, and it was seen tliat whereas the 

 two tvibercles on abdominal sternites 2 and 3 were markedly 

 different in both shape and height in the IMoorish males, the 

 males from F]gypt possessed tubercles differing only in a 

 slight disparity in height and shape of apex. 



The Vicomte R. du Buysson was kind enougli to compare 

 one of the Moorish males with the Fabrician type in Paris. 

 In his opinion the characters which differentiate the two 

 insects could not be considered more than racial or varietal. 

 Du Buysson says : — " Le type male dc Fabricius est parfaite- 

 meut conforme ;\ la plauche de I'ouvrage de Saussure [Va. 

 Fara. Vtsp. iii. pi. v. fig. 4), c'est i\ dire que le 2^ sternite 

 abdominal porte une sorte de tubercnle carbne, tronqne 

 obliquement dans le sens antero-posterieur, tandis que le 

 troisienie sternite porte une protuberance scmblable j\ 



Fexcmplaire du INIaroc, que vous m'euvoyez, Le 



type de Fabricius est en outre _/«?/»<? /y«/<^ dans ses ornements 

 clairs ; ces ornements sur cclui du Maroc sc nt beancoup plus 

 blanchatrcs. Avec la foime du tubcrcule du 2' sternite, je 



