324 PEO CEE DINGS OF THE NATIONAL M tJSE UM. vol. xxii. 



Olialcidoidea hy the large, non-impressed mesopleura, the large triangu- 

 lar mesepisternum, which does not extend to the front coxce, and by the large 

 saltatorial spur of the middle tibioe, ivhioh is most frequently long and 

 stout, or dilated at base, and usually armed with a double roto of blacli 

 teeth or stiff bristles. No other family possesses this large saltatorial 

 middle tibial spur, and only a few species, in one or two of the other 

 families, possess the non-impressed mesopleura. 



Family LXVII. ENCYRTID^.' 



The three subfamilies mentioned above, into which this family is 

 divided, may be separated upon ttie following characters: 



Mesonotuni not entire, most frequently depressed or concave on disk, rarely convex, 

 the parapsidal furrows distinct, or at least more or less present; marginal vein 



usually long Subfamily I. Eupelmin^. 



Mesonotum entire, convex or subconvex, the parapsidal furrows always entirely 



wanting. 



Marginal vein rarely very long, often punctiform, and always very much shorter 



than the subcostal vein; stigmal vein usually short but distinct, rarely very 



long; scutellum normal, the axilla? never closely united to form a transverse 



linear sclerite at base of scutellum; middle tibise without lateral spurs. 



Subfamily II. Encyrtin^. 



Marginal vein long, as long or nearly as long as the subcostal vein ; scutellum 



abnormal, the axilhe closely united without suture between, forming a trans- 



verselinear sclerite at base of scutellum proper; middle tibitB?«i<fe lateral spurs, 



the lateral apical spur lobed Subfamily III. SiGNiPHORiNiE. 



Subfaixiily II. K:]^^C^^E,'^I1S^^?E. 



This subfamily, as here defined, is identical with Forster's family 

 Eucyrtoidai or Mayr's Encyrtideu, and is based upon Latreille's genus 

 Encyrtus, established in 1809. 



The genus was very imperfectly characterized by Latreille, who 

 indicated as types two species, namely, Chrysis "? infidus Eossi (Illiger) 

 and Mira macrocera Schellenberg. The latter is now manifestly not 

 applicable,' since it itself is the type of a well-characterized genus. 

 Chrysis infidus Rossi, therefore, becomes the type of Latreille's genus 

 JEncyrtus. 



Chrysis infidus Rossi was very imperfectly described and has long 

 remained unknown, but I have identified it as the Coccid parasite 

 known to us to-day under the name Comys scutellata Swederus. In the 

 original description nothing was said of the characteristic tuft of hairs 

 on the scutellum, and it has thus been overlooked by writers on these 

 insects. 



In 1820, Dalman, a Swede, redescribed the genus Encyrtus and de- 

 scribed many new species. His diagnosis, however, was necessarily a 

 broad one, and in reality represented the family rather than the genus, 



•For characters of the other families see Classification of the old family Chal- 

 cididaj by W. H. Ashmead, Proc. Wash. Ent. Soc, IV, 1898-99, pp. 242-249. 



