Mr. G. Newport on a new genius of Parasitic Insects. 515 



where, he asserted, I had seen his drawings of it, which I in- 

 stantly denied. Six weeks after this aspersion, and after I had 

 adduced — at the reading of the second part of my paper to the 

 Linnaean Society on the 1st of May instant — hving evidence 

 of the truth of my previous announcement, Mr. Vv'estwood 

 disclaimed having doubted my discovery of AnthopJiorahia in 

 1832, and also disclainied having cast any imputation on my 

 statements. Eut six days later, May 7th, he appears to have 

 addressed himself a second time viva voce to a meeting of the 

 Entomological Society, at which I was not present, and at which 

 he well knew, as 1 have ceased to be a Member, that I was not 

 likely to be present to reply to his assertions. In the carefully 

 drawn up report of that meeting, printed in the ' Gardeners' 

 Chronicle ' on the 12th of May, No. 19, page 295, he again re- 

 pudiates, yet at the same instant reconveys the imputation, and 

 there, for the first time, prints his description of Melittobia, and 

 claims to have described this insect sufficiently in 1847. Now 

 the facts are these : — In the second volume of Mr. Westwood^s 

 ' Introduction,' page 160, and printed in November 1839, the 

 author refers to an insect found in France by M. Audouin in the 

 nests of Odyncrus, Anthuphoi-a and OsmiOj and says, " the male has 

 most singular antenna, and minute rudiments of wings" and then 

 remarks, " the species has not yet been described.'* Nearly eight 

 years elapsed and no description of the insect bad been published 

 by M, Audouin, nor had any reference again been made to it by 

 Mr. Westwood until July 1847, when, according to the printed 

 Proceedings of the Entomological Society, vol. v. part 3. p. xviii, 

 he " exhibited specimens and drawings*' of Audouin's insect, and 

 mentioned that ^' the antennae of the males are singularly dis' 

 tor ted [\) and the wings almost rudimental ; thus offering a strikingly 

 opposite analogy {\t) to other bee-parasites, such as Sty lops, Melo'e 

 and Sitaris," and for this insect he proposed the name of " Me- 

 littohia Audouinii." This is the whole that he had published re-. 

 specting it, and those are his own words, Mr. Westwood being 

 at that time Secretary of the Entomological Society, and enabled 

 to prepare and to publish in the ' Proceedings ' what he pleased. 

 But every naturalist will perceive that neither of these extracts 

 constitutes a description of the insect named ; these vague allu- 

 sions being equally applicable to other , genera of Chalcididous 

 insects. No entomologist advanced beyond his schoolboy days 

 will contend that '^ most singular antennce*' or "singularly dis- 

 torted antenncB '* are descriptive terms or phrases. They apply 

 equally well to at least four other genera of this family of insects, 

 and of which three have been characterized by INIr. Westwood 

 himself, viz. Tetracnemus, Dicladocerus, Elasmu^, and Eulophus ; 

 while " minute rudiments of wings *' or " wings almost rudimental" 



33* 



