24 GENERA OF HYMENolTEKA. 



Family CYNIPIDiE. 



The Hjxjc'ies of this interestinj; family are all of small size, the 

 heiul {ifenerally small and transvei'se, with slender, straight, 12-1*}- 

 jointed antennsc ; thorax usually robust, oval, the seutellum large, 

 of variable form and sonietimes s])ine<I ; winp^ (sometimes wanting) 

 without a complete costal nervure and stigma (except in the anoma- 

 .^ Ions genus //m//«, which hits an elongate cultriform abdomen ), and 

 with few nervures ; abdomen genc'vUy oval, and more or less com- 

 pressed, rarely knife-sha|)ed, the sec>^iul or third segment largest, the 

 ovipositor spiral and conceale<l within two sheatlis or plates. 



In giving a synopsis of this family (which the compiler has never 

 studied, and hjus therefore v» ry little jiersonal knowledge of the char- 

 acters) it hits l)een thought well to give two methcMli.of chussification ; 

 first, that adopted in the more recent tables by Mr. W. H. Ashmead 

 (Trans. Am. Ent. Soc. xiii, pp. 59-64, 1886), which characterize all 

 the genera so far indicated iis occurring in this country ; and second, 

 a translation of the tables given by Dr. Mayr, in his " Die Genera 

 der gallenbewohnenden Cynipiden," published in 1881, and based 

 on a careful study of the Eurojjean sjiecies and also nuiny belonging 

 to our fauna, but which do not include all the North American 

 genera, and omit entirely the Figitides. It is probable, however, 

 that when the relationshi] of our many dimorphic forms ha^ been 

 carefully studied, as has been done for the Eurojx^an species, the 

 classification suggested by Mr. ^Vshmead will require a thonjugh 

 revision. 



According to the latter the family is divisible into two sections, 

 the majority of the sj)ecies of the first section being true gall-makers, 

 producing galls or abdominal deformations or excrescences on various 

 trees and plants, while some are termed guest-flies, living in the galls 

 made by the former, from which they are said to be scarcely distin- 

 guishable. The sjiecies of the second section are all parasitic in their 

 habits. 



The family is divided in the following manner : 



Marginal cell of anterior wings long and narrow ; venter visible, or visible for 

 more than half its length Section GYMXOOASTRI. 



Marginal cell an equilateral triangle; venter not visible, i-r with the tip alone 

 occasionally exposed Section CRYPTOGASTRI. 



The first section contains the true gall-makers (Psenides), the 

 guest-flies ( Inquilines), and the peculiar genus Jbalia; while the 

 second section includes the Figitides, v.hich are parasitic. 



