HYMENOPTEKOUS FAMILY STEPHANID^. 709 



usually polished smooth, with a few scattered punctures, rarely 

 distinctly rugose. The cheeks are alwa^^s distinctly developed 

 and usually about the same length as the scape. The posterior 

 margin of the head is either simple (serra^or), bordered (^furcatus), 

 or produced into a more or less distinct collar (collarifer). 



The pronotum consists of an anterior narrowed neck, which is 

 usually more or less distinctly ti-ansrugose, and a posterior 

 crescentic part — herein called the semiannular — which is either 

 entirely smooth or more or less finely rugose, with a narrow polished 

 posterior margin. The mesonotum is curvate in front, rugose or 

 punctate, rarely smooth ; it has a central longitudinal row of 

 punctures, sometimes almost obsolete, on each side of which is a 

 smooth space, beyond which are two lateral impressions or rows 

 of punctures. 'Che scutellum is divided into three sections by 

 distinct crenulate sulci, is almost smooth, with a few large 

 punctures on the margins of the lobes, of which the lateral ones 

 are often more or less punctate. The mesoplurae ai^e deeply 

 impressed above, somewhat smooth and shining, distinctly sculp- 

 tured below. The metapleura? are often separated from the 

 median segment by a row of punctures, a sulcus or a carina, or 

 rarely by a sulciis and a carina; less commonly confluent. Of 

 the metanotum proper only a very narrow band, laterally broader 

 triangular, is seen and is longitudinally striate. The median 

 segment is large, usually with large, shallow punctures ; some- 

 times the interstices are alutaceous, and rarely, as in gigas, it is 

 rugose, anteriorly often diffusely punctate, and more or less grey 

 pubescent. The abdomen is inserted near the apex of the median 

 segment, not far from the hind coxae. The petiole is rarely 

 sessile, as in Schlettererius, usually nearly as long as the remaining 

 segments together; it is veryra.rely smooth (macuUpeniiis), usually 

 more or less finely trans-striate. The remainder of the abdomen 

 is usually smooth, with a few dull spots, due to microscopic 

 sculpture, more rarely entirely dull, Thei-e are seven segments 

 in the male, six in the female, the posterior ones being short and 

 indistinctly discreted. The terebra in female is usually as long- 

 as or longer than the whole body, the spicula ferruginous or red, 

 its sheaths entirely black, or white or pale-banded before the 

 apex, rarely rust-red (insignis). 



The anterior legs are short, their femora and tibiae compara- 

 tively slender, the tarsi five-jointed, the penultimate joint very 

 short and furnished with pencils of hair. The hind legs are very 

 elongate, their coxae stout, usually transrugose, often with finer 

 striation between coarse transverse ridges. The second joint of 

 the trochanters is indistinct. The hind femora are strongly 

 fusiform, smooth and polished, rarely finely sculptured ; on the 

 under side they bear two or three large teeth and a varying 

 number of smaller serrations. The hind tibiae are compressed 

 either in the basal third, or as far as, or even beyond, the middle 

 and constricted. The hind tarsi are usually five-jointed in the 



48* 



