Dec, 1902.] ASHMEAD : CLASSIFICATION OF PrOCTOTRVPID.^^:. 241 



ncumonoidea, the Siricoidea and the Tenthredinoidea. The Formicoi- 

 dea, the Proctotrypoidea and the Cynipoidea still remain to be treated. 



In the present paper, or rather series of papers, I propose to give 

 my ideas on the classification of one of these remaining superfamilies 

 — the Proctotrypoidea. 



It has been just ten years since I wrote my monograph on the 

 North American Proctotryjjidce. During these years I have made 

 laborious studies into all the families of the Hymenoptera, and it is 

 only natural, therefore, that my ideas and views should broaden and 

 change with increased knowledge, that I should now see more clearly 

 affinities and relationship in groups not before noticed, and that my 

 conception of what constituted a family, still a vague term, should be 

 modified. 



In my opinion, the old conception of the family Proctotrypid^e 

 was erroneous in some particulars ; it was a complex group and rep- 

 resented more than a family ; it really represented a superfamily, with 

 many families. Some of the forms, too, classified as Proctotrypids, 

 had no relation whatever with these insects, while others, placed else- 

 where, the Pelecinidffi, Moiioniacliits, etc., were in reality genuine 

 Proctrypoids and should have been classified with them. 



The subfamilies Bethylinas, Embolemin^e and Dryinina^, too, as I 

 have shown elsewhere, really represent a natural family of higher rank 

 far removed from genuine Proctotrypoids, and belong among the Acu- 

 leata or Fossores. 



These remarks will suffice to introduce and account for the changes 

 made in the classification of this great complex. 



Classification. 

 Superfamily V. PROCTOTRYPOIDEA. 



Table of Families. 



1. Trochanters distinctly /K't^jointed 2 



Trochanters i -jointed. 



Antennce 14-jointed, inserted on the middle of the face ; front wings with a 

 lanceolate stigma, the marginal cell long, open at apex ; mandibles dentate ; 

 maxillary palpi 5-; labial palpi 3-jointed ; 9 abdomen greatly elongated, 

 slender and cylindrical, about five times the length of the head and thorax 

 united, composed of six segments ; $ abdomen clavate. 



Family L. Pelecinid^. 



2. Antennae inserted at the clypeus 6 



Antennae inserted on the middle of the face, often on a frontal prominence. 



