44 
November 10, 1896, a quart jar of Indian corn from Peru was trans- 
mitted to this office by direction of the Assistant Secretary of this 
Department, which upon examination proved to be infested primarily 
by the rice weevil (Calandra oryza). A parasitic hymenopteron of the 
family Chalcididre was present in some abundance, somewhat outnum- 
bering its host. Specimens were referred to Mr. W. H. Ashmead, who 
identified it as the species described and figured by Westwood in 1874 
(Thesaurus Entomologicus Oxoniensis, p. 137, PI. XXV, fig. 10) as 
Chcetospila elegans. It is a member of the subfamily Spalangiinse and 
some confusion exists as to the place that it may hold. Mr. Ashmead, 
however, is of the opinion that the genus Clnetospila, of which this 
species is the type, must fall. According to Westwood, Chretospila dif- 
fers from Cerocephala "in the short peduncle to the abdomen and the 
eight-jointed antennre, these organs in Cerocephala being distinctly 
ten-jointed, the eighth and ninth being equal in size to the two pre- 
ceding joints." 
A reasonable excuse for this opinion is found in the fact that West- 
wood very evidently had at most not more than one or two specimens 
of but one sex (female) at the time of his description. Examination of 
a good series shows that the antennas of the species are normally ten- 
jointed, although in some individuals it is difficult to distinguish more 
than eight joints. There are several well-defined joints and a club. In 
some individuals, of females as well as males, three segments in the 
club may be discerned under a good magnifying power; in some there 
appear to be but two; while in others there is hardly any visible evi- 
dence of segmentation or suture. Westwood, in this, as in so many 
other cases, evidently considered the club to consist of a single joint 
and so figured it. 
The type or types were evidently all winged. The females of the 
present lot were winged, but the majority of the males are apterous 
and some have aborted wings. 
For the benefit of those who may not be able to consult Westwood' s 
work, it might be remarked that the body of this insect is shining 
dark brown, variegated with lighter brown, with green bronze and 
blue luster. The head is divided in front, so as to give the appearance 
of being three-horned. The fore-wings, in the female, reach to the end 
of the short ovipositor. Just beyond the middle is a nearly circular 
infuscated fascia and the optical moiety is fringed on the outer margin 
with fine hairs. The peculiar fascicles of short erect bristles at the 
junction of the subcostal vein with the costa, to which Westwood called 
especial attention as not being present to his knowledge in any other 
species, according to Mr. Ashmead, are at times also present in other 
species of Cerocephala. The length of this species is variable, but it 
does not often reach more than 1.5 mm. For further particulars the 
reader is referred to Mr. Ashmead's Synopsis of the Spalangiinse (Proc. 
Ent. Soc. Wash., Yol. II, pp. 27-37). 
