1929] 
A New Pseudomasaris from California 
75 
lower plate ( Trimeria , Microtrimeria , Masariella, Cerami- 
oides) or have the plates partly ( Ceramius , Paraceramius) 
or completely ( Masaris , Pseudomasaris) fused. 
H. de Saussure attached a considerable importance to 
the number of spurs of the middle tibia, which he believed 
to be two throughout the subfamily. Later observations 
have, however, shown that this number is not a subfamily 
character. In the Masaridinae it is very variable, although 
fixed in each species and in most of the genera. Two spurs 
are found in Microtrimeria , Paragia, Ceramius , Masaris , 
Masariella, Jugurtia, Celonites and Quartinia; but in some 
cases, as in certain species of Masariella, the second spur is 
very small. On the other hand, Trimeria, Paraceramius, 
Ceramioides, and Pseudomasaris have but one spur. The 
two spurs probably represent the primitive condition. The 
tarsal claws likewise are variable, toothed in most genera, 
but simple in Trimeria, Microtrimeria, and Pseudomasaris. 
Some of the peculiarities of the wing venation have been 
discussed above. As a rule the fore wing shows none of the 
longitudinal plaiting so characteristic of the Vespidse when 
these insects are at rest. It should be observed, however, 
that the plaiting is likewise lacking or vestigial in the 
Euparagiinae and Gayellinae; while some Masaridinse, such 
as Ceramius, show a distinct indication of it and others, 
such as Celonites and Quartinia, have the wing as strongly 
plaited as Vespa. Resting Celonites place the folded wings 
against the under side of the abdomen, as observed by J. 
Lichtenstein for the Mediterranean C. afer and by H. 
Brauns for several South African species. Throughout the 
subfamily there are but two closed cubital cells, the 
second and third (R 4 +R 5 ) of the other Vespidae being 
fused. To judge from the course of the two recurrent veins, 
it would seem that this feature of the wing was derived 
from the more common type of vespid venation, in which 
the second cubital cell (Rs) receives both recurrent veins, 
and not from the (perhaps more primitive) condition of 
the Euparagiinse, Gayellinae, and Raphiglossinae in which 
the second and third cubital cells each receive a recurrent 
vein. Among the other subfamilies of Vespidse the fusion of 
the second and third cubital cells is exceptional (as in 
