126 MISC. PUBLICATION 17 4, U.S. DEPT. OF AGEICULTUKE 



dow of a granary at Urbana, 111. A translation of the original 

 description into Spanish was published by Garcia Mercet in 1912 in 

 a revision of the then known aphelinids of the world. In 1914 

 Howard mentioned the species in connection with a discussion of the 

 host relations of the species of Paraphelinus. He pointed out that 

 two species of the genus were known to be parasitic in the eggs of 

 Homoptera and Orthoptera placed in twigs and canes and suggested 

 that all the species probably had similar habits. Waterston included 

 speciosissimus in a key to the species of the genus Paraphelinus pub- 

 lished in 1916, and at the same time gave a very interesting summary 

 of the known facts regarding the genus. In the same year the first 

 information regarding hosts of speciosissimus was published. A 

 paper by McConnell, appearing in March of that year, recorded the 

 species as attacking the hessian fly in Pennsylvania and gave short 

 descriptions of egg, larva, pupa, and adult, as well as important de- 

 tails regarding its life history. In November a note by Girault re- 

 corded it as having been reared by W. J. Phillips at Richmond, Ind., 

 from eggs of what was questionably identified as Xiphidium sp. 



In 1918 the genus Paraphelinus Perkins was synonymized with 

 Centrodora Foerster by Mercet and the species speciosissiona listed 

 in the latter genus. The same synonymy was arrived at by the 

 present author and published in 1919, Mercet 's paper at that time 

 being unknown to him. Attention was called in this paper to the 

 great similarity of the American speciosissima to the European 

 C. amoena Foerster, and the opinion was expressed that the two were 

 probably the same species, but it was deemed advisable to retain the 

 name of speciosissima until European specimens could be obtained 

 for comparison. At the same time it was suggested that Centrodora 

 amoena and Agonioneurus locustarum Giraud were probably iden- 

 tical; and it was pointed out that, if these conjectures proved true, 

 the specific name locustarum would supersede both speciosissima and 

 amoena. 



A paper by Mercet published in 1930, however, has apparently 

 cleared up the identity of locustarum. In a key to the European 

 species of Centrodora he pointed out characters which distinguish 

 locustarum from amoena and recognized the two as distinct species, 

 this conclusion being based upon a study of paratypes of the former 

 species and upon a specimen which had been compared with the 

 type of the latter species and pronounced identical by Nowicki. 

 Mercet at the same time also pointed out the resemblance between 

 amoena and speciosissima and remarked that a very careful com- 

 parison of the two would be necessary to establish differences be- 

 tween them. 



In the light of Mercet's finding regarding locustarum, that spe- 

 cies need no longer be suspected of being the same as amoena or 

 speciosissima. On the other hand, Mercet's description and his fig- 

 ures of the antennae of amoena agree so closely with specimens of 

 speciosissima that the writer is more than ever inclined to believe 

 that they are the same. No European specimens have been exam- 

 ined, however, and it is still deemed inadvisable to synonymize the 

 one with the other without first having the confirmation of such a 

 comparison. 



