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NOTES ON THE HYMEN OPTEROUS GENUS MEGALYRA 

 WESTW., WITH DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW SPECIES. 



By Walter W. Froggatt. 



The genus was formed by Westwood to contain a remarkable 

 parasitic wasp which he called Megalyra fasciipennis; this is 

 figured, with very slight description, in Griffith's ' Animal 

 Kingdom,' 1832. Some years later he obtained a male, which he 

 described, at the same time defining the genus. Erichson, about 

 the same time (1841), described a species under the name of M. 

 rujipes, from Tasmania, which Westwood found to be identical 

 with his species. In 1851, Westwood added two more species; 

 thereafter nothing more was done at the group until 1889, when 

 Schletterer described two species. In 1902 Szepligeti wrote an 

 important paper on these insects, adding three new species — one 

 from Australia, one from New Guinea, and a third from Ceram; 

 and at the same time he tabulated all the known species. Last 

 year, 1905, Bradley translated Szepligeti's table of species, and 

 added a seventh species to the genus. 



The members of this genus, with the exception of the species 

 from New Guinea and Ceram, are peculiar to Australia; and are 

 chiefly confined to open forest country. They are very distinctive- 

 looking insects, usually all black, with the antennae and legs 

 sometimes more or less reddish-brown; the head and thorax are 

 coarsely punctured, and elongate in general form. The globular 

 head is provided with short stout mandibles, pointed at the tips, 

 with two blunt teeth below; the maxillary palpi are composed of 

 five irregular joints, and the labial palpi of three regular ones; the 

 antennae, situated in front of the head, consist of thirteen irregular 

 slender joints, with a stout short basal one; the finely faceted 

 eyes are large and circular, and project slightly on the sides of the 

 head; and on the summit between them are three ocelli form- 



