400 NOTES ON THE HTMENOPTEEOUS GENUS MEGALYRA WESTW., 



ing a small triangle. The broad truncate thorax fits close behind 

 the head, bearing a short blunt spine on either side behind the 

 eyes; it is of a uniform thickness, slightly sloping behind to the 

 truncate hindmargin where it is attached to the oblong-oval 

 sessile abdomen which, in the male, is furnished with a short 

 pair of reddish claspers at the anal extremity. In the larger 

 females the abdomen is broadly rounded to the apex, and is pro- 

 vided with a curious slender ovipositing apparatus; this, when 

 closed, looks like a stout black horse-hair several times the length 

 of the whole insect, but it is usually opened out into three 

 distinct parts, namely, two slender hair-like setae, and the reddish 

 thickened tubular ovipositor. The wings are either deeply 

 clouded or barred with fuscous, and contain few cross-veins. 

 The legs are moderate, with thickened thighs. The whole insect 

 is often more or less clothed with short grey hairs. 



The species can be divided into two groups — those with clouded 

 wings, and those with forewings distinctly barred in the centre. 

 The situation of the ocelli, the general sculpture of the head and 

 thorax, together with the markings on the dorsal surface of the 

 abdominal segments, are constant specific characters. The size 

 of the insects, and the length of the ovipositor, are very variable 

 in the same species; and the reddish tints noted by some 

 describers are not always specific, but due to the maturity or 

 otherwise of the specimen when captured. The forms with 

 clouded wings seldom or never have red legs or variegated 

 antennae. 



In Dalla Torre's ' Catalogue of the Hymenoptera of the World,' 

 this group is raised to the rank of a family (Megalyridae) contain- 

 ing the genera Megalyra and Iseura, the latter represented by a 

 single species from Brazil. 



Nothing has been recorded about the habits of these remarkable 

 insects; but they deposit their eggs in the larvae of the longicorn 

 beetles which live beneath the bark in the sap-wood of Wattles 

 and Eucalypts. 



Through the kindness of Messrs. French, Lea, Kershaw, and 

 Tepper, who have lent me the specimens in their collections, and 



