342 IIALIDAV ON 



a regione oculoi-um, lineol^ alia insujier sub antennas arcuatim 

 ducta. Quo vero crassius caput est et vertex planior eo magis 

 emicat heec structura : nonnulHs quorum caput brevissimum est 

 (e. g. Anagro) vertex antrorsum declivis fere in lineae speciem 

 contractus et antennae inferius insertse videntur: antennarum 

 radicula ssepe exserta tenuis, capitulum feminarum plerunque 

 exannulatum, rarius biarticulatum (Eustocho) : mandibular 

 trigonae apice denticulis 3 : maxillee una cum labio ovato-cir- 

 cumscriptas : palpi desunt :'' thoracis forma variat : mesothoracis 

 lobi humerales discreti ; paraptera minuta valde remota ; scutellum 

 subtiliter transverse bipartitum, plerisque cum scuto metatlioracis 

 continuum : alas valde angustse lineares vel anticse obovatae nun- 

 quam trigonae : nervus subcostalis tenuis quadrantem ala; longitu- 

 dinem vix attengit ssepius adhuc multo brevior, radio et cubito 

 nullis, ulna linear! brevi, vel etiam in punctum contracta : 

 alarum margo plerisque pulchre ciliatus s. plumatus : abdomen 

 saepius ad instar Cynipedum tereti-compressum, segmentorum 

 dorsalium marginibus inflexis ventrem obtegentibus : venter 

 carinatus arcuatim ascendens : aculeus gracilis crinicB ventrali 

 repositus : pedes elongati graciles saltatorii, tarsis pentameris 

 aut tetrameris. 



This tribe comprises the very atoms of the order Hymenop- 

 tera. Their hues are mostly black or yellowish, unadorned by 

 metallic splendour : the plumed and iridescent wings of many 

 are beautiful objects for the microscope. The males, by their 

 very long and slender antennae, (sometimes more than twice 

 the length of the body,) resemble Ichneumons in miniature. 

 The females oviposit in the eggs of other insects, from which 

 the tiny parasite emerges only in the perfect state, a single 

 butterfly's-egg often nourishing the transformation of many 

 individuals. The species occur from the earliest spring upon 

 the herbage of groves and meadows, walking and leaping ; 

 most copiously on warm still days of autumn, when a host of 

 Lep'idoptcra, &c. are engaged in laying the latest brood of 

 eggs to be hatched the following spring. With regard to their 

 position in the system, both Stephens and Curtis refer them to 

 the Proctotriqnda ; and such high authority makes me very 

 diffident in proposing for them a position nearer to the Chal- 



** Species examined, — Ooclonus insignis, 0. vulgalus, 0. litoralis, Pohjnenta 

 ovulorum. In a living specimen of Polynema omdorum, I have seen at the back of 

 the maxilla, in the ordinary place of the palpus, a minute shapeless tubercle, 

 which becomes contracted, and disappears in dried specimens. 



