ME. W. F. KIEBT ON THE CHALCIDINiE. 53 



Remarks on the Genera of tlie Subfamily Clialcidinse, with 

 Synonymic Notes and Descriptions of new Species of Leucos- 

 pidince and ChalcidiiKS. By "W. !F. Kiebt, Sec. Entomol. 

 Soc, Assist. Zool. Depart. Brit. Museum. (Communicated 

 by Dr. Gunthee, E.E.S., P.L.S.) 



[Eead December 7, 1882.] 



(Plates III. & IV.) 



Inteoductoey Eemaeks. 

 The subfamily Chalcidinse is in a very unsatisfactory state ; and 

 the tendency of recent authors has been to class the majority of 

 the species under the three genera Smicra, Halticella, and 

 Chalcis, ignoring the divisions which former writers have pro- 

 posed, partly on the ground that several of their genera run into 

 each other, and partly because it is usually considered that 

 characters taken from one sex only are not sufficient to establish 

 a genus. But in the order Hymenoptera, where the females 

 frequently far outnumber the males, forming in fact the bulk 

 of the species, it ajjpears to me that the latter objection will 

 hardly hold good. Although "Walker described a great number 

 of Chalcidinse from the Amazons and other localities, yet he 

 founded his species in most cases on single specimens, in which 

 case, of course, there is only one sex (generally the female) 

 known. Under these circumstances, I thought it might be 

 useful to discuss all the genera of Chalcidinse more or less in 

 detail, establishing new ones for any unnamed sections which 

 appeared to be sufficiently well defined, as preparatory to a 

 thorough revision of the subfamily by myself, or some other 

 entomologist, when a larger amount of material has accumulated. 

 In the case of known genera, I usually confine myself to stating 

 essential characters, and to indicating their types. The number 

 of joints of the antennae here given will sometimes be found to 

 differ from that stated by previous authors. This is frequently 

 a very difficult character to verify ; but I have subjected every 

 specimen figured to a careful microscopic examination, with the 

 kind assistance of Mr. E. "Wilson, and I think the results may be 

 relied on as correct. 



