1929] 
A New Pseudomasaris from California 
85 
with 28 species of five genera: Ceramius, Ceramioides (en- 
demic), Quartinia , Celonites, and Masariella (endemic). 
The vast majority of these forms occur south of the Orange 
River; a few extend into the Orange Free State (to 29° S. 
lat.) and South West Africa (to 22° S. lat.). The three re- 
maining Ethiopian species, of the genera Jugurtia and Ce- 
lonites, are found in the Sudan (Gambia and Northern Ni- 
geria) and in East Africa (Obock, Abyssinia, and Kenya 
Colony. The occurrence of one species of Celonites in south- 
ern Arabia should be mentioned here since that territory 
belongs zoogeographically to the Ethiopian Region. It is 
significant that the masarids avoid the West African Sub- 
region and the Malagasy Region. 
The 24 species of the Australian Region all belong to the 
endemic genera Paragia and Metaparagia and are restricted 
to the Australian continent and Tasmania. 
Only 8 species are known from the Neotropical Region, 
all belonging to three endemic genera: Ceramiopsis, Tri- 
meria, and Microtrimeria. They occur in the arid or semi- 
arid parts of South America, avoiding entirely the tropical, 
moist, densely forested areas. 
The Nearctic Region has 14 species, all belonging to one 
endemic genus, Pseudomasaris, the distribution of which 
has been indicated above. Its northernmost occurrence is at 
Princeton, British Columbia, in about 49° 30' N. lat. 
The present-day localisation of the Masaridinse in cer- 
tain well-defined areas seems to be entirely due to the ecolo- 
gical conditions favored by these wasps. The overwhelming 
majority of the species occur in arid or semi-arid country 
only, or at least in regions characterized by a hot and rel- 
atively dry summer. These wasps may therefore be called 
xerophilous. They entirely avoid regions with a heavy and 
evenly distributed rainfall, whether in temperate or in tro- 
pical parts of the world. These ecological requirements, as 
well as the strictly vegetarian habits, also explain why most 
masarids are among the rarest of insects. In order to per- 
petuate the species, the adults must appear at the proper 
season, when the flora is at its best. This condition is, of 
course, entirely regulated by the rains, which in desertic 
and semi-arid regions are always of short duration and 
