BY WALTER W. FROGGATT. 403 



segment and apical half of second smooth and shining, the rest 

 finely shagreened. Q. Length of body ^ to f inch; of ovipositor 

 2 inches. 



Hab. — Melville Island, Tasmania, and Australia (Westwood); 

 Melbourne, Vic, Tasmania, Sydney, N.S.W.(Froggatt). 



This species lays her eggs in the larvae of several species of 

 longicorn beetles of the genus Phoracantha, which usually in the 

 earlier stages of their existence feed between the bark and sap- 

 wood of different species of Eucalypts when these are dead or 

 dying, and finally burrow into the more solid wood where they 

 pupate. Probably the Megalyra finds them out when feeding 

 just beneath the bark, through which she passes her stout ovi- 

 positor when inserting her egg. I have a fine series of both 

 sexes taken by Mr. L. Gallard at Kenthurst, obtained when 

 splitting up dead timber that was infested by the longicorn larvae; 

 the wasps were taken in the burrows of the beetle larvae, fully 

 developed and ready to emerge. 



Megalyra rufiventris Schl. 



Berlin. Entom. Zeitschr. xxxiii. p.224, £., 1889. 



This species has the base of the antennae, legs beyond the 

 femora, and the whole of the abdomen red; very lightly clothed 

 with hairs, those upon the abdomen not forming distinct 

 patches. 



[lab, — Australia. 



Megalyra szepligetii Bradley. 



Trans. Ent. Soc. London, 1905, p.396. 



£. Entirely black; wings hyaline, barred with brown near 

 the centre, and a spot at the extremity; lateral ocelli about the 

 same distance from each other as they are from the eyes; scutellum 

 coarsely punctured; the dorsal surface of the abdomen with the 

 first segment and a narrow band at the second and third smooth 

 and shining, the rest shagreened. Length 12 mm.; of ovipositor 

 34 mm. 



Hab. — South Australia. 



