Mr. J. 0. Westwood on a genus of Parasitic Hymenoptera. 39 



This species differs only from the former in its more acuminate 

 leaves, equal at base and pilose on both sides, and in its fasci- 

 culate flowers. The leaves are from 4 to 5 inches long, 20 to 

 21 lines broad, on a petiole of 12 to 15 lines in length. The 

 flowers resemble those of the former species in size and shape ; 

 they are probably fasciculate, as in the first-mentioned species, 

 and not umbellate, a mode of expression often used by Professor 

 Kunth in that sense, which is the more evident, as he makes no 

 allusion to any general peduncle. 



VI. — On the Identification of a Genus of Parasitic Hymenoptera. 

 By J. 0. Westwood, F.L.S. 



To the Editors of the Annals of Natural History. 



GENTLEMEN, Hammersmith, June 5, 1849. 



As I have neither leisure nor inclination to answer in detail 

 Mr. Newport's reiterated attacks upon me, I shall merely ob- 

 serve — 



1st. That I again deny having expressed a single word of 

 doubt as to Mr. Newport's having found the insects in question 

 in 1832, or that I asserted that his knowledge of them was de- 

 rived from my communications. I said that Mr. Newport must 

 have known from those communications that his insects were 

 identical with those reared by Audouin and exhibited by me. 



2nd. The notices published by me in 1845 and 1847 are suf- 

 ficient to identify my insect and to distinguish it from every 

 known species of Chalcididce, and ought (even if Mr. Newport had 

 not been present when I exhibited my specimens and drawings, 

 and gave a viva voce description of the insect) to have satisfied 

 him of their identity. My notices, although not drawn up in a 

 technical manner, indicate the chief essential peculiarities of the 

 insect, viz. 1st, its minute size; 2nd, its parasitism in the nests 

 of mason bees and wasps ; 3rd, the impregnation of the female 

 within the cell of the bee ; 4th, the habit of the female of using 

 her wings, and seeking other cells in which to deposit her eggs ; 

 5th, its position in the family Chalcididce', 6th, the singular dis- 

 torted* antennae of the males j 7th, the minute size of the wings 

 of the male, and 8th, the full size of the wings of the female. 



3rd. I reaffirm the identity of the insects, and having seen 

 Mr. Newport's drawing made seventeen years ago, I do not hesi- 

 tate to state that his description has been drawn up from this 



* The antennae of Elasmus, &c. are not distorted in form; they are sim- 

 ply furnished with long lateral branches. 



