542 HYMEXOPTERA. 



close to it, under the outer angles of the visor ; are rather 

 short, curved, and thread-like ; and are unequal in the num- 

 ber and size of the joints, in the two sexes. They have 

 a short and thick neck. Their borer is very slender, is 

 entirely concealed in a deep and narrow chink under the 

 hinder part of the body, and is coiled up at its base, so 

 that it can be darted out to some distance when extended. 

 The fore legs of the females are very thick, and have only 

 three joints to the feet ; while the rest, as well as all of the 

 feet of the male, are five-jointed. Their wings have but 

 few veins and meshes in them. These insects are active, 

 fly quickly, and love to alight and run about on the sunny 

 side of the trunks of trees, wherein they are supposed to 

 lay their eggs. 



For a long time, only two kinds of Oryssus were known 

 to naturalists, and both of them were European insects. In 

 the year 1833, three undescribed species were enumerated 

 in my " Catalogue of the Insects of Massachusetts " ; and 

 these, in the second edition of the Catalogue, which was 

 published early in 1835, received the following descriptive 

 names, by means whereof an entomologist would find little 

 or no difficulty in recognizing them ; namely, hcemorrJwida- 

 lis, the red-tailed, maurus, the dark-colored, and affinis, the 

 allied, so called from its near resemblance to the preceding 

 species. These singular insects were taken upon a willow- 

 tree, by my friend, the Rev. L. W. Leonard, and w T ere pre- 

 sented to me many years ago.' 



The red-tailed Oryssus has been renamed and described, 

 by Mr. Newman, in the October number 

 of the fifth volume* of "The Entomologi- 

 cal Magazine," published in London in 

 1838. It is his Oryssus terminalis (Fig. 

 252). The female only is known to me. 

 Her body is black, rough before, and smooth 

 behind, with the last three segments of a blood-red color. 



* Page 486. 



