MINUTE HYMENOPTEROUS INSECTS. 587 



this genus two or, more probably, only one species is recorded in this country, namely 

 A. minimus, " ferruginosus, antennis et pedibus pallidis ;" the supposed second species, 

 A.fusculus, "Praecedente major colore obscurior antennis longioribus, vix revera species 

 distincta " (op. cit. p. 51). Another species, A. pallidomis [? pallidicornis], is slightly de- 

 scribed by Poerster, found near Aix la Chapelle. It is scarcely half as long as A. mini- 

 mus, with yellowish-white antennae (Hym. Stud. ii. p. 120). As these authors do not 

 mention the singular dilated and excised base of the fore wings, I consider the one before 

 us distinct, to which may be applied the name of Alaptus excisus. 



A. antennis maris corpore paullo longioribus, feminee corpori aequalibus ; alis anticis basi postice dilatatis 

 et subito excisis. Insecta minutissima. Long. circ. - 6 - mill. 



' The second insect described by Sir J. Lubbock, under the name of Prestioichia aquatica, 

 offers considerable difficulty as to its true position, in consequence of the loss of the 

 typical specimens (all six of which are described as having been females) and the different 

 descriptions given of the structure of the antennae. Thus, in the Latin description 

 (p. 140) supplied by Mr. P. "Walker, we read " antennae graciles, subclavatae, inarticulate ; 

 clava longi-fusiformis ;" and in his Pnglish description they are described as " 10-jointed, 

 the first joint nearly as long as the flagellum; the second, third, fourth, fifth, and sixth 

 joints equal in thickness, successively decreasing in length ; seventh fusiform ; eighth, 

 ninth, and tenth forming an elongate-fusiform club." In the specific description, by Sir 

 J. Lubbock, they are said to consist of six or seven segments, a conjectural second seg- 

 ment (shown by a trace of a division near the end of the basal joint) being short and 

 round, the third joint longer and increasing somewhat in size towards the apex, the 

 fourth similar in shape but smaller, the terminal part of the organ forming a club-like 

 mass, which appears to be composed of three segments, the last joint, however, being 

 very indistinctly marked. In his fig. 10, and in the upper antenna in fig. 11, the antennae 

 are represented as only 4-jointed, whilst in fig. 12 and in the lower antenna of fig. 11 

 they are figured as 5-jointed. Prom this diversity of description, however, we may conclude 

 that the first joint is considerably elongated, the antenna being geniculated at its extremity. 

 The real second joint (the supposed preceding joint being, I believe, an optical delu- 

 sion) is shown in fig. 12, followed by a shorter third joint, the remainder of the an- 

 tenna consisting of the clava, of which the first division alone is indicated in fig. 12, 

 whilst the second division, as described in the text, is more or less obsolete. As to 

 the intermediate third, fourth, fifth, and sixth joints mentioned in Mr. Walker's Pnglish 

 description, they are as illusive as the " antennae inarticulate " of his Latin description. 

 We are warranted, then, in concluding that the antennae were geniculate * at the end 

 of the long first joint, and that the terminal portion formed a more or less distinctly 

 3-articulated clava. Such characters, however, remove Prestioichia from the My- 

 marides, and associate it with smaller aberrant Pulophides. The structure of the 

 tarsi of Prestioichia also, in my opinion, removes them from the Mymarides, and 

 brings them, in like manner, to the Pulophides. It is true both Mr. Walker and Sir 



* It is proper to observe that in most of the Chalcididae the antennas are inserted low down in the face, close to 

 the mouth, the basal joint extending upwards to the crown of the head, and the remainder of the antenna being bent 

 downwards at a sharp angle, and only reaching to the mouth when at rest. 



