ENTOMOLOGIST AND BOTANIST. 



367 



ascertain whether or not this Simulium is in- 

 jurious in tlie larva state, by killing the young 

 trout, or beneficial, by furnishing said trout with 

 desirable food. The settlement of the question 

 must deeply interest fish-growers, and the New 

 York fish commissioners should by all means 

 cause the proper investigations to be made. It 

 is conceded that the larva can spin a web at any 

 time of its life, and we confess that Mr. Green's 

 conclusions seem quite plausible. Yet our fair 

 correspondent is of a dilfercnt opinion, believing 

 the whole thing to be a "fish story;" and we 

 may add here tliat Mr. Fred. Mather, of Iloncoye 

 Falls, N. Y., is of her opinion, for he wrote to 

 us last July — "I do not believe they [the worms] 

 ever killed a dozen young trout since the Crea- 

 tion." According to our promise we subjoin a 

 descri))tion of the species. 



Sim 

 eyes 1 



iM-^.i.inu'M. ti «]. —9 fffff,/ velvety Iiliiek; 



!i: :i"l' '"i;r w ilh j-iiiN I,-.', :: jnd 11 sui)i-(|U!ll in 

 IK-lll, .■ I.'h nl 11, r ,,tli.T, I,:, II ,1- h.,.-, 1 aiul ■■ nirnlls. :i— 11 



in<--l">He,l k aiMl LjriHlliiilh (liimMi.-l.ili-il) IliiekllfSS t.i llie 



last, which i.-. lii.-il.,rm; |,al|.i I,,,,-,,' iIkiii aiiliTiiia', lilMi'k, 

 TAoivix volvilj l)l:u-k wilh liiiiit liilvous |.ulii'.-<i-iiic'e uIh.vc; 

 lialtcl'1'8 (i|iac|ln3 :iMil wliilv Atitlomen ll-jointed, jc.ints suh- 

 equal in IrnKlli, exi-rpt lln- last tw.i « hieh arc small, r and 

 smaller; dorsallv vclv.-tv lilack, laliiallv aiwl v.iihallv, 

 fSlU'ciully towanls base anil at incisnres, inclinini; nmn or 

 less to nifons. I.nis with lla- IVunt troi-hantiTs wliil.-, ,)i- 

 I'ulTiills, anil the mithlle ami hiiul i>nes mure ihskv; di.' .-..xa! 

 all either rnfons or lulvmis; the fenn.ra all Mark, Ihcufjli 

 sometimes [■.■s|.eeimi-ns] llie base is paler: front lihia' wilh 

 the upper Ihree-lonrllis while, the rest hlaek; mi.lilie tibia- 

 with the upper two-lhinls while, then'st black; hind tibi:u 

 wilh ab.ait Ibe ni.per one-half white, the rest black; front 

 tarsi black ; nibklb and hind tarsi wilh the upper half of lirst 

 joint while, or rnbrns, the rest black. Wing) snb-hvaline 

 with the veins I'uliitinous. Length of body [alcoholic speci- 

 mens), U.H — U.17 inch. 



Described from six specimens bred by Sara 

 J. McBride from the larva illustrated at Figure 

 143. Wlien fresh the lighter parts of the abdo- 

 men are often blood-red or dull-red. We have 

 but small means of ascertaining whether this 

 species is really described, or wherein it diflTers 

 from our other described species. It diflfers 

 notably from S. reptans, Linn., and from S. 

 venustum, Say. S. calceatiim, Harris, is appa- 

 rently a catalogue name, and cannot be identi- 

 fied, except by comparison with the type, which 

 may not now exist. Of S. decorum, Walk., S. 

 invenustum, Walk., and S. vittatum, Zett., we 

 have no descriptions at hand. Our specimens, 

 which seem to be all $ , tire some of them in 

 alcohol and some in glycerine. Those from the 

 alcohol, upon drying, appear more grayish than 

 those from glycerine, and no doubt the velvety 

 appearance would give way to a brighter and 

 more metallic lustre in the living and well mar 

 tured specimens. But the coloration of the legs 

 will at once distinguish the species. — Ed.] 



Napoleon, at the summit of his prosperity, 

 never inflicted more damage on a nation than 

 the liliputian insect army annually inflicts on the 

 United States. 



On tlic Group Eui-jiomides of the llyinenoptoroiis 

 Family C'ludciilidiC : 



WITH KKMAUKS ON THE THKOUY OK SI'KCIKS, AND A 



UK8CUIPTION OK ANTKiASTKll, A NKW AND VKKV 



ANOMALOUS GKNUS OK CIIAI.CIDIU.E. 



[Concluded .'\ 

 .SlIlit'AMILY l>TEI!OM.\Linii.-!, Weslw 



Uemis Semiotkllus, Westw — Tlic species now lo he 

 described is parasitic upon Isosoma hordei (the Joint- wonn 

 Fly), Harris, and is congeneric with the celebrated paruaite 

 of the Hessian Fly {Cecidomijia destructor. Say), wliicli was 

 spccillcally named destructor by .Say in the year 1S2I . To 

 illustrate the general uncertainly and obscurity as to tlic 

 correct classillcation of the Chalcu Hies, it may be stated 

 here that Say originally referred this species to the Renus 

 Ceraphron, which does not even belong to the Chalcis family, 

 but to the closely allied Proclotnjpet family. Westwood, 

 writing in 1S40 and Judging from .Say's llguies and descrip- 

 tions alone, declared that it must be "evidently one of tlic 

 Kitlcijiltides," the fith subfamily of f'A((/ciVin/rt: {Introd II, p. 

 160); though, according to Curtis, he Biibsequently changetl 

 his opinion, and thought that ' 'it might possibly be a Ptero- 

 malua," a genus belonging to the 3rd subfamily of Chalcidida 

 (tJurtis's Form Insects, p. 2G0) Dr. Harris, in IS41, being 

 led into this ciTor by a letter of llerrich's, dated Jan. 24, 

 1840 (see Harris Corresjiondence, p. 1!),^), referred it to the 

 genus Euryloma, which belongs to the '.ind subfamily of 

 Chalcididte; and for a long time the insect was currently 

 known by Dr. Fitch and others as Kurytoma destructor. Say. 

 At length in 1S5'2 Dr. Harris, perceiving that the insect dif- 

 fered altogether fiom true Eurytoma, referred it doubtingly 

 to Rhapkitelus, a genus of the 3rd subfamily of Chatcididte . 

 In my Essay on Illinois Insects, published in 18(i4, in the 

 Tram. III. St. Aijr. Society (IV, p. 370), not having then seen 

 the second edition of Harris's book on Injurious Insects, in 

 which Harris's last generic detenuination was announced, 

 as his Urst determination had been announced in the first 

 edition of the same work, which 1 had long previously seen, 

 I doubtingly referred this and two closely allied species to 

 Glyphe, a genus belonging to precisely the same sub-group 

 of the 3rd subfamily of CAa/cidfd(C as i2A(i;>/ii7c/u5. Finally, 

 Dr. Fitch, writing in the same year, 1801, as myself, trans- 

 ferred this unfortunate wanderer to a genus— .fcmio/c/Ziu — 

 belonging to a different but allied sub-group of the same 3rd 

 subfamily of Chalcididce. Thus we see that one and the same 

 insect has at different times, and by different authors, been 

 classilied in two different families— Proctotrypida and Choi' 

 cididcB— and in no less than three different subfamilies of the 

 latter family, namely the ind, 3rd and 5th, and in as many 

 as live different genera included in those three subfamilies, 

 namely Eurytoma, Pteromalus, Glyphe, Rkaphitelus and 

 Semiotellus . 



For reasons given at the commencement of this paper, I 

 do not feel disposed to dispute here the correctness of the 

 generic nomenclature adopted by Dr. Fitch. 1 am satisfied, 

 at all events, that I was wrong myself in referring the Hes- 

 sian Fly parasite and its allies to G/^p/te. As/ar/s are always 

 of far more scientillc importance than phrases, I subjoin here 

 the leading generic characters by which the genus — whatever 

 name we may choose hereafter to give to it — may he distin- 

 guished. 



Genus Skmiotellus? West., Fitch. (Kig. 7).— Body short 

 andstout. Head transverse, and muchwider than the thorax. 

 AnteniuT) J 5 9-jointed (Sc.-)-7+t'l ), with the club acute at 

 tip, much compressed and almost setiform, especially cT, 

 when viewed in one directiou; aiitennaj rf Ulifonn, the club 

 as long as the two preceding Joints put together, and in no 

 point of view wider than they are; antennai 5 gradually 

 tbicliened from the ba^e nearly to the tip of the flagellum. 



