290 BULLETIN UNITED STATES GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. [Vol.Yl. 



from which as yet only 1 6 species have been published ; these will be 

 enumerated in their proper place. 



In Hymenoptera none have yet been described. About a dozen speci- 

 mens are referred to Apidae and Andrenidae ; several species are rep- 

 resented, bat most of them are badly preserved ; the largest appears 

 to be a Bombus. Of Vespidae and other large wasp-like Hymenoptera 

 about 70 or 80 specimens have been found, referable to about 30 species, 

 one of which is a large Scolia or allied genus ; several are Sphegidae, 

 including an Ammophila ; one, which seems to be a Polistes, shows traces 

 of a blue-green metallic tint; another, apparently one of the Pompilidae, 

 represents a species with a large subapical fuliginous spot on the wing ; 

 another, perhaps of the same family, has a circular clear spot in the 

 center of the wing, surrounded with fuliginous. The ants are the most 

 numerous of all insects at Florissant, comprising perhaps a fourth of all 

 the insects ; they form more than three-fourths, perhaps four-fifths, of 

 all the Hymenoptera ; I have already about 4,000 specimens of ])erhaps 

 50 species (very likely many more) ; they are mostly Formicidae, but 

 there are not a few Myrmicidae and sonie Poneridae. I have noticed, no 

 Mutillidae. Ichneumonidae are very numerous ; of minuter forms, hav- 

 ing an expa,nse of wing of less than a centimeter, there are nearly 200 

 .specimens, unusually well preserved ; judging from a cursory examlna- 

 .tiou they are exceedingly numerous in species, perhaps 80 all told, and 

 many genera are represented ; the larger forms, whose wings expand 

 more than a centimeter, are even more numerous, both in species and 

 individuals, and most of them are very fine, including a great variety, 

 among which are especially noticeable a good assortment of species of 

 Pimpla and allied genera. I have looked in vain for Pelecinus, or any 

 long-tailed Ehyssae or Thalessae. The Braconidae, Chalcididae, Cyni. 

 pidae, and Chrysidae, exceeedingly few fossil species of which have ever 

 been described, are very abundant, but have not been fairly separated 

 from each other and from other small species ; together they number 

 nearly 2.50 specimens and probably 50 species. Among others there is 

 a Chrysis, showing metallic green reflections on the abdomen; and also 

 more than half a dozen species of Chalcididae, with expanded femora, 

 represented by over 20 specimens. Finally, there are about 60 Ten- 

 thredinidae of 14 or 15 species, and several genera ; besides a single 

 species of Uroceridae. 



A few Lepidoptera occur. One butterfly in a most admirable condi- 

 tion has already been described under the name of Prodryas Persephone, 

 and there are two more diurnal species, each represented by a single 

 specimen and each also generically distinct from any living forms, bat 

 yet falling in the immediate vicinity of those most nearly allied to 

 Pxodryas, namely, among the highest Praefecti. Besides these there 

 SEB a couple of poorly-preserved butterflies of uncertain position, and 

 I have also set aside about a dozen specimens of perhaps 8 species of 

 nocturnal Lepidoptera; but they are obscure, mostly of small size, i)erhaps 

 Pyralidae or Tortricidae, and have not been critically studied. 



