688 INSECTA. 



(ants nnd honey bees), or annunl (humble bees and wa^ps). The seconil volume contains the solitary nest-makinij 

 species (the majority of the gciiura of Apidas and Andrcnida;), and the parasitic bees as well as the solitary wasps. 



The third volume (in which the author found it impossible to carry out his theory respecting the working or 

 parasitic habits of the species as exhibited by the structure of the fore legs of the female) contains the various 

 families of sand wasps, namely, the Crabronites, Bembecides, Sphegides, and Scoliides. including the Mutillidas. 

 The fourth volume is by M. Brullc, M. Saint Fargeau, owing to his great age (—he is since dead)— having 

 renounced the authorship of the Terebrant Ilymenoritera, and contains the families Chrysides, IchneumonJdes, 

 Braconides, Evaniides, ChalciiJites, Proctotrupides, Cynipides, Oryssides, Urocerides. and Teuthredinides. In this 

 volume the author has especially devoted his attention to the U'hneumonides and Braconidtjs, in \^■hich families 

 a great number of new genera and species, for the most part exotic, are described. 



The llymenoptera of Spain have been described by Erichson in "Waltl's Travels; those of Algeria in Wagner's 

 Travels, and many Australian species in Wiegraann's Archives; and a considerable number of Spanish, 

 Egyptian, and Cayenne species by the Marquis Spinola, in the French Annales. The Symbolte Physics; of Dr. 

 Klug contains a considerable number of beautiful Egyptian species. Many of the Tenthredinidx have been 

 beautifully illustr:ited in Ratzeburg's Forst Insecten. Dr. Ilartig's Blattwespen must also be studied. A remark- 

 able collection of Cocoons, of a Brazilian species, has been tiguri.-d by Mr. Curtis in the Transactions of the 

 Linnrean Society, and the economy of stveral interesting species described l>y mysell in tlic Oardener's Chronicle 

 for 1847 and 1848. 



Memoirs un the Evaniidae by Mr. Shuckaid, in the Zoologist, and by myself in the Trans. Entomol. Society 

 must he referred to. The Belgian Ichneumonida^ have been investigated by Professor Wesmael in the Transactions 

 of the Berlin Academy. The Ichneamonidas have also formed the subjectof one of the volumes of Ratzeburg's fine 

 work on the Forst Insecten. An interesting paper on the Eeonomy of the IchneumonidiE, especially with reference 

 to the species of insects upon which each subsists, is given by Boye in Kroyer's Natural History Tidsskrift, Vol. 

 III. The genus Alysia has been revised by Mr. Haliday in his usual careful manner. The Cynipidai have been 

 studied by Hartig in Germar's Zeitsclirift, and Dahlbom in his "Onychia and GoUaspidia," and various new 

 genera proposed. The Chalcididre have been reviewed by Forster in his " Beitrage zur Monographie der 

 Pteromalinen," Part I., and by Mr. Walker in "Monographs on the Chalcididas," published in two volumes, and 

 in detached articles in the various Natural History periodicals. Many of the species are beautifully figured in 

 Itatzeburg's Furst lusecteo, and outline figures of tlie British genera are given in the Entomologist, drawn by 

 Mr. Haliday. 



Many species of Chrysidids have been described by Guerin, in the Revue Zoologique, and by Dr. Klug, in the 

 Symbola^ Physicce. A synopsis of tliis family is given by the latter in the Proceedings of the Berlin Academy. 



The Linna^an genus Sphex, has been reviseil by Dahlbom in his excellent work entitled " Hymenoptera Eu- 

 ropa^a prtecipue Borealia, &c., disposita atque descripta," in which the sand wasps are distributed into the ten 

 fdUowing families. — 1. Spbecidx- 2. Ampulicidas. 3. Pompilida?. 4. Larridaa. 5, Nyssonidaa. 6. Bembeeidre. 

 7. Pliilanthidai. 8. Mellinid;e. 9. Pemphredonids ; and 10. Crabronidte. A vast number of new species, and 

 many new genera are described in this work. Some new genera allied to Chlorion are illustrated by me, in the 

 Arcana Entomologiea. 



The -MutiBida^ of New Holland are illustrated in my Arcana Entomologiea, as well as tlie Dorylidse, and a 

 great number of new species of Thynnidoa. Monographs on the latter family have also been pubUshed by Dr 

 ivlug and M. Guerin. Mr, Shuckard also published a monograph on the Dorylidie, in the Annals of Natural 

 History. Observations on the habits of various species have also been published ; by L. Dufour, on Cerceris bu- 

 presticida, Ann. Sciences Natur., XY ; by Siebold, on Oxybelus uniglmuis ; and by L'asscriin, on ISuoUa, with a 

 supplement detailing the interesting economy of the large Italian species. 



A iJaper by myself, on some new genera of Ants, has appeared in the Annals of Natural History, and Mr. 

 White has published some interesting observations on a Brazilian species of Wasp, which collects honey, in the 

 same work. Mr. Curtis has also described some Wasps in the Trans. Linn. Soc- 



A valuable series of papers containing descriptions of the British species of Bees, has been published by Mr. 

 F. Smith, in the Zoologist, and one on the genus Hylreus, in the Ti-ansactions of the Entumolugieal Soeivty of 

 Londun. The Natural History of Osmia, Ceratina, Stelis, and other Bees, has been given by L. Dufour, in the 

 Annals of the French Entbmul. Society. A paper on the economy of the Brazilian Melipouites, has been pub- 

 lished Liy Spinuhi, in the Anuaies des. Sci. Nat. 



THE ORDER LEPIDOPTERA. (P. 603.) 



The classification of tliis order has received muuli attention since the publication of (.lur former edition. 

 A discussion uf considerable extent has been carried un between Messrs. Dupntichcl and Gueuce as to the relative 

 importance to be yiven to the characters of the insect in its preparatory states, or to those derived from the 

 imago. M. Boisduval has adopted both these views to a certain extent in his several works. The distribution of 

 the order into three primary divisions has been rejected by the last-named author, as well as the names Diurna, 

 Crepuscularia, and Nocturna. by which they were known. Inhis " HistoireNaturelle des Insectes Lcpidopteres," 

 he has employed for the first of these three groups the name of Rhopalocera, first proposed by Dunieril for the 

 butterflies, and being unable to discover any real limits for the two other Latrellian groups, he has united them 

 together under the name of Iletcrocera. from the varied structure of the antenna, The same method is also 

 ailopt^d by Boistluval in his " Genera et Index Methodicus Europa:orum Lepidopterorum," 8vo, 1840. In the 

 former of these wurks lie divides the butterflies as follows ;— 



