5£»4 INSKCTA. 



digging; the labium is always more or less notched at tlie tip, and never filiform or setaceous; lliC 

 wings are always extended. They compose the genus 



Sphlx, Linn., — 

 The majority of the females of which deposit with their eggs, in nests formed for their reception, in 

 earth or wood, vavioiis insects or their larvrc, and sometimes Spiders, wliich they have previously jiierced 

 wilh their stings, and which serve for the fnud nf their \uung, whun hatched; Lhi' latter resmililu wurms, 

 having no feet, and are transformed in a cocoon which they have situn previotis tu heconniig jiup;e ; 

 the perfect insect is generally very active, and lives aj)on flowers ; the nj axilla: andlLihium are elongated 

 and proboscis-like in inany species. 



AVe distribute the nnmerons subgenera separated frnm the primitive genus S[ihcx, into seven princiiial 

 groups \_Scolietes, ^apyr/iles, Sphegites, Bembecidcs, Larraten, Nyssoniena, Crabronites'\. In the two first 

 of these, the eyes are often notched ; the body of the males narrow, long, and terminated by three anal 

 points, or teeth. 



1. The Scolie/es, comprising those which have the first segment of the thorax sometimes arched, and 

 extended at the sides as far as the wings, sometimes transverse-quadrate, or like a knot ; the legs short, 

 tiiick, very spinose, with the tibiae curved near the base, and the autennfe of the females shorter than 

 the head and thorax. They aie named after the genus 



ScoLiA, Fab. 



Scnic have the nia.\illai-y pah'' l'>''?^i ^^'t'l unequal-sized juints, and tlie basal juint of tlie antennaj sub-conical. 

 S"Jcli are 



Tiphia, Fall., with which we may associate Tengi/ra, Latr. 



The others have the maxillary palpi short, and the basal joint of the antenna:' long". 



Mi/:fiie, Latr. (with the mandibles dentate), and 



Meria, Latr. (with the mandibles simple), have the basal jonit receiving and hiding tlie second. 



iScoI'tyy proper, has the second joint of the antenna; exposed. [This is a nurntrous genus, cotnposei,l for the most 

 }>art uf lari^c exotic species.] 



2. The Sapyyiles, Latr., have the first segment of the thorax formed as in the preceding, with the 



legs short but slender, neither spined nor strongly ciliated, and the antennae in both sexes as long as 



the head and thorax ; the body is generally naked. Tliis subdivision is named after the principal 



genus 



Sapvoa, Latr. 



Some have fiiiform or setaceous antenna;. 



T/ii//inuSy Fab., has the eyes entire, [New Holland insects] ; and Scoiccua, Klug [Brazilian species]. 



Polochrttm, Spin., has them notched, and tlie mandibles toothed. 



Others have the aiitennce thickened at the tips, or clavate in some maU^s. 



Sapyga proper, the species of which fly about walls and trees exposed to the sun, on which they appear to 

 deposit their eg(i:s. [It now appears that they are parasites in the nests of Bees which inhabit those situations]. 



Ceramius, Latr., from the form of the prothoracic collar anil the extended wings, belongs to this siibdivision ; 

 but from more important characters it ought naturally to be uniti^d \Mth tiie Diploptera. 



3. The .S/'Z/cv'Vr.v are Fo^sorcs, which nearly ;q)}u-oach the preceding in re-spect to the prothoracic 

 collar, but tlie hind legs arc at least as huig again a^ the head and thorax, and the antcnn?e are often 

 slender, formed of louse juints, and much curved in the females. Thcv arc named after the 

 dominant genus 



^PHEX. 



Some have the lirst se.uMnrnt of tlie thorax s(|itarp, either transverse or lon:j:itndinal, and the abdomen attached 

 to the thorax by a \'i'ry .-.hurt jn'ihinele ; the iii)per wings have generally \.\\o or three cuTiqilete cubital cells, and 

 another imperfect and teniiinal. They ii(.n\ furm several subgenera. 



Pep-sis, Fab,, has the labrum apparent ; the antennae in the males straiL^Oit ; the maxillary palpi not much longer 

 than the labial ; the males have the hind tibis and tarsi compressed. AM the species are exotic, especially South 

 American, and have the \\iii;;s iMloiu-ed. 



Ceropalesy Latr., lias tin/ iahnun and antenna:: of Pepsis, but the maxillary i»alpi are much lunger, with very 

 unequal-sized joints. 



Pompilus, Fab., resembles Ceropales in the latter respect, but the anti-nna; of both sexes are convoluted and 

 composed of loose joints ; the labrum is but slightly exposed. Tyiie, x ri.j/ini, Linn, [a common species]. These 

 insects provision their nests with S|Mdcrs, having first pricked tlieni with tlii'ii' stini;s, 



Saliu^, Fab., is established upnn the mules <if some specie^ uhieh ha\i' the pro- and inetalhorax propurtionably 

 irnre elongated than in I'mnjiilus, and the nuiiidibh"< are nut tuuthed. 



Planicc'ps, Latr., diHer from Salius in lia\iijg llie head llat, with the posterior margin conca\e, the ocelli very 



