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Psyche 
[September 
greatly unlike Archisphex. Further discussion of phylogeny is de- 
ferred until after these specimens have been described. 
My own role in these discoveries has simply been to place them 
in the scientific record. The Lower Cretaceous Archisphex was 
collected by R. A. Crowson of the University of Glasgow and very 
kindly presented to Harvard University. The two specimens from 
Cedar Lake, Manitoba, were collected by F. M. Carpenter, who 
also took a great deal of care in preparing the small pieces of amber 
so that the specimens could be studied in detail. These two specimens 
were first recognized as aculeates by Edgar Riek, of C.S.I.R.O. in 
Canberra, Australia, while he was sorting unworked material during 
a recent visit to Harvard. Various persons have advised me on the 
placement of these specimens, but I am particularly indebted to 
R. M. Bohart and A. S. Menke, who are currently preparing a 
revision of the genera of living Sphecidae. 
Archisphex, new genus 
Based on a single nearly complete fore wing (Fig. i), the more 
critical features of which are as follows: costal cell present; stigma 
elongate, lower margin nearly straight, outer margin oblique, straight ; 
marginal cell (cell Ri) with its apex on the wing margin, not far 
from wing tip, and slightly appendiculate (i.e., Ri extending beyond 
apex of cell) ; three fully formed submarginal cells and three fully 
formed discoidal cells present (i.e., veins Rs, 2 r-m, 3 r-m, 1 m-cu, 
and 2 m-cu all complete), second recurrent vein (2 m-cu) curved 
basad so as to reach the second submarginal cell near its outer 
corner, first recurrent vein (1 m-cu) almost interstitial with first 
intercubital (Rs) ; major wing veins (M and Cula) reaching outer 
wing margin; basal vein (M + Rs) only slightly oblique, its upper 
terminus at some distance from stigma ; transverse median vein 
(cu-a) oblique, reaching media (M ■+ Cu) slightly basad of origin 
of basal vein ; veins and stigma brown in color ; wing membrane with 
close-set microtrichiae. 
Type species: Archisphex crowsoni, new species 
The name Archisphex is simply Greek for “ancient wasp” and 
should not influence future students toward keeping this genus in 
the Sphecidae if new evidence suggests that it belongs elsewhere. 
For the present, I do regard this wasp as probably a sphecid, largely 
by a process of elimination from other families plus a close approxi- 
mation of the wing to certain living sphecids. These two considera- 
tions also provide a measure of certainty that Archisphex is an 
