201 



pupae of the Aciileates were placed for experiinental purposes. 

 At this time I should judge that the larvae of Sceliphron are 

 more susceptible to attack froui these parasites than tliat of the 

 Odyneras. M. liawauensls has previoush' been bred from the 

 larvae of Sceliphron caementarlum, Odynerus nigripennis, 

 Pison hospes and Megach'de palmarum. It is quite probable 

 that this Chalcid and others are, to a more or less extent, ac^ 

 countable for the occasional rarity of many species of our en- 

 demic wasps. 



A careful study of available literat\ire on the Eumeuids (un- 

 fortunately confined here to three works) leads me for the 

 present to determine this newly introduced wasp as Odynerus 

 nasidens Latr. If it is not that species then it is either 0. siinpli- 

 cornis Sauss., or a variety of one or the other. 



Saussure in his Synopsis of Am. Wasps, Pt. I, pp 228-229, 

 1875, places the 0. nasidens of Latreille in his Division Pacho- 

 dynerus (also see Sauss. Mon. des Guepes Sol. p. 109, 1852, and 

 Supl. pp. 229, 252, 1856, Division Epsilon), this division of the 

 Odynerus having the antennae of the males simple, that is, not 

 terminated by a hook. He has described three species in the 

 Section of his Division Pachodynenis to which 0. nasidens be- 

 longs, viz. : — 0. hrevithorax , Sauss, 0. nasidens, Latr., and 0. 

 simplicornis, Sauss. All of these three species evidently have a 

 close resemblance to each other and Saussure himself states that 

 without comparing numerous specimens of each of the species 

 one easily confounds all under the same description, taking them 

 for 0. nasidens of Latreille. lie further states that even after 

 the examination of his numerous specimens he still remained in 

 doubt although he thought that he could distinguish 0. hrevi- 

 thorax quite clearly and in consequence determined it as a new^ 

 species. On the other hand in referring to his 0. simplicornis 

 he admits that "one should perhaps consider this species as a va- 

 riety of 0. nasidens." Unfortunately there are no named speci- 

 mens of foreign Eumeuids available locally for reference pur- 

 poses so that a comparison of such with either tables of genera 

 or species is altogether impossible. The available literature on 

 the subject is also incomplete and because of these facts I have 

 sent a small series of both sexes of this introduced wasp to the 

 F. S. i^ational Museum at Washington. In due course we will 

 no doubt secure a conclusive determination of the species. 



According to Saussure, 0. n^isidens and its close allies are 

 species pecidiar to tropical iVmerica, 1st— from the hot parts of 

 Mexico, 2ud — from (^oloiidiia and Venezuela, -'ird — from Baliia 



