ASHMEAD : GLASSIFICATIOlSr OP THE CHALCID FLIES 267 



1900. Eucharidse, Family LXV., Ashmead, Proc. U. S. National Museum, XXTII., 

 p. 202. 



In this family are found some of the most singular looking and wonderfully 

 shaped Chalcids known, the structure of the thorax, and particularly of the scutel- 

 lum, being most wonderfully and curiously modified and developed ; and this de- 

 velopment, in connection with the brilliant metallic green and blue colors of its 

 membei's, makes the group the most striking and attractive of any in the Superfam- 

 ily. Some of the species are now known to be parasitic upon ants and probably 

 the whole group attacks these insects. In temperate regions the family is poorly 

 represented, but in tropical countries, where ants most abound and flourish in enor- 

 mous colonies, these insects are not rare and seem to have reached a very highly 

 specialized development. 



The known genera may be tabulated as follows : 



TABLE OF GENERA. 



1. Females 2 



Males 21 



2. AnteDnse 13-jointed or less 3 



Aritenu£e 14-pointed or more. 



Scutellum simple ; antenujB 16-18-jointed Eucharissa Westwood (type E. speciosa Westw.). 



_ Scutellum produced posteriorly into a spine which is longitudinally striate ; antennse 14-jointed. 



Saccharissa Kirby (type Eucharis contingens Walker). 



3. Scutellum simple, neither bidentate nor produced into long processes 4 



Scutellum bidentate or produced posteriorly into long processes over the abdomen 11 



4. AntennfE moniliform 5 



Antennte not moniliform 6 



5. Abdomen corapi-essed, ascending Eucharis Latreille (type Cynips adscendens Fabr.). 



Abdomen neither compressed nor ascending. 



Hind tarsi with the first joint much thickened ; antennae 11-jointed Tricoryna Kirby 



(type Eucharis jello Walt.). 



Hind tarsi with the first joint very long, but not thickened Metagea Kirby 



(type Eucharis Zalates Walk.). 



6. Joints of antennae not serrate, cylindrical 7 



Joints of antennae serrate or subdentate 9 



7. Antennae ISjointed, the joints short 8 



Antennre 11-jointed, the joints long. 



Thorax smooth, polished; petiole of abdomen abruptly enlarged at apex. 



Pseudometagea Ashmead (type Metagea schwarzii Ashm.). 



Thorax rugose ; petiole of abdomen normal, long and cylindrical Psilogaster Blanchard 



(type P. cupreus Blanchard). 



8. Thorax not greatly elevated, similar to Chrysolampus in the Perilampidae, punctate and with complete 



parapsidal furrows ; mandibles long, acute at apex, the right mandible with two teeth within, the 

 left with one tooth within Orasema Cameron (type 0. stramineipes Cam.). 



