1924] Identity of Leptofoenus F. Smith and Pelecinella West. 303 
1904 Ashmead, Mem. Carnegie Mus. Pittsburgh, vol. 1, p. 
285, p. 384, p, 486 {Pelecinella) 
1909 Schmiedeknecht. Genera Insectorum, fasc. 97, p. 150 
{Pelecinella) 
1910 Kieffer, Evaniidse, Das Tierreich, Lief. 30, p. 410 {Lep- 
tofoenus) 
1912 Viereck, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 83, p. 84 {Leptofoenus). 
1915 Brues, Psyche, vol. 22, p. {Pelecinella) 
1923 Gahan ^ Fagan, Bull. U. S. Nat. Mus., No. 124, p. 112 
{Pelecinella) 
1924 Handlirsch, Schroder’s Handbuch der Entomologie, vol. 
3, p. 744 {Leptofoenus) ; p. 764 {Pelecinella) 
As already stated Smith (’62) did not locate his genus Lep- 
tofoenus in any family, and as his remarks concerning it preclude 
its association with the Chalcidoidea, Westwood (’68) placed his 
Pelecinella there without suspecting its identity. Schletterer 
(’89) quoted Smith’s description and speculated concerning the 
relationships of Leptofoenus, but made no attempt to locate it in 
any famil 3 ^ Ashmead (’95) transferred Pelecinella to the family 
Cleonymidse, considering it better placed there than in the 
Torymidse (Callimonidse) where Westwood had first (‘68) 
placed it, or in the Perilampidse where it is located in Westwood’s 
‘‘Thesaurus.” Since then no one has seen fit to suggest relation- 
ship with any other Chalcidoids. Kieffer (’10) includes Lepto- 
foenus in the Evaniidoe where it is placed at the end of the sub- 
family Aulacinse. Finally Handlirsch (’24) has erected a new 
family for Leptofoenus, placing it between the Stephanidse and 
Megalyridoe, and in the same volume he includes Pelecinella as 
the tribe Pelecinellini of the subfamily Cleonyminse of the Chal- 
cididse, not suspecting any relationship between the two genera. 
The checkered taxonomic career of Leptofoenus thus illus- 
trates well the great difficulty which attends the allocation of 
aberrant insects on the basis of descriptions. 
The five described species of Leptofoenus are all very closely 
similar although differing strikingly in color. The type species, 
L. peleciniformis Smith seems to be most closely similar to L. 
ashmeadi Brues from Brazil, although undoubtedly distinct. 
