82 



A. A. Girault 



ween the Eulophidae, Mymaridae and Trichogrammatidae, yet I must 

 dissent from his statement to the ef f ect that the Ashmeadean Oligositinae 

 should be included with the Eulophidae and the other subfamily — 

 the Trichogrammatinae Ashmead — left to itself as a distinct family 

 merely for the reason as is implied from their nature, that the fore 

 wings bear a somewhat peculiar discal ciliation. I have attempted 

 to explain the nature of this ciliation in the first section and I think 

 none can doubt but what some closely allied genera differ only in this 

 particular. Also, I have attempted to explain why I consider the 

 Ashmeadean subfamilies to be unnatural and also how all of the genera 

 of the group form a compact segregate, divisible only on antennal strue- 

 tur eand wing venation. 



More than this, all of the genera have the same habit, all bear the 

 same reduced tarsal structure and the reduced cephalic tibial spurs, 

 the strigils absent. Thus, if the segregate is to be joined to the Eulo- 

 phidae all of the genera must be taken into the alliance or none. In 

 regard to the structure of the tarsi, Perkins (Ib, p. 191) implies that 

 a reduction in the numbers of joints is of little taxonomic value. This 

 is true as regards the present families allied with the Trichogrammatidae, 

 since other characters are more constant for larger groups of species, 

 the number of joints in the tarsi being constant only for groups of 

 subfamily rank. This would seem to make it necessary to subordinate 

 the Trichogrammatidae to the Eulophidae as a subfamily. Still, it must 

 be remembered, that three-jointed tarsi occur in no other group of the 

 Chalcidoidea and it must, therefore, be given more weight than a 

 reduction in tarsal structure would require otherwise. This greater 

 reduction, combined with the development of a peculiar venation in 

 one group of genera, peculiar wing ciliation in many genera, the ab- 

 seile e of strigils and the uniformity in habit still induces me to hold 

 aloof for a while at least before insisting upon any such Subordination 

 though I think it may come in the end. 



13. Species of the Family Common to Australia and 



North America. 



These species of Trichogrammatidae have been found in North 

 America and Australia; Oligosita americana, Äbbella subflava and 

 Trichogramma minutum Kiley, all captured by myself in North Queens- 

 land, the frist in the Southwest of the same state. Their presence 

 may be aecounted for, since they are associated with crop plants, 

 the first two with wheat and the last with maize. The Trichogramma, 

 which is nearly cosmopolitan, was captured in a small isolated mining 

 Community in the forests thirty miles back from the coast, but I have 

 very little doubt that rnaize is or was grown there and that one of its 

 hosts is or was present, for instance Heliothis obsoleta. 



