368 
Psyche 
[December 
like) first abdominal segment and a venation very similar 
to that of the fossils here under discussion. To judge from 
the specimens I have seen, at any rate, I can only conclude 
that Palseovespa gillettei is probably a diplopterous wasp 
and that it most likely belongs in one of the subfamilies of 
social genera. I have also examined a specimen of P. floris- 
santia Cockerell and of P. scudderi Cockerell, both very 
poorly preserved. 
The one specimen I have seen of Odynerus prsesepultus 
Cockerell (1906, Bull. Mus. Comp. Zool., L, 2, p. 57) is not 
sufficiently well preserved to allow of its being placed with- 
out reservations among the Diploptera. So far as I can 
make out, the first discoidal cell is not longer than the sub- 
median and there is no clear evidence that the wings were 
plaited. This fossil might equally well be a fossorial wasp. 
I feel quite positive, on the other hand, that Odynerus 
palseophilus Cockerell (1906, loc. cit., p. 56) is not one of 
the Diploptera. The triangular shape of the high marginal 
cell and the short first discoidal cell would be a unique com- 
bination in that group, while it reminds one strongly of 
some of the parasitic Hymenoptera. Professor Brues, to 
whom I have shown this fossil, shares my opinion, and has 
suggested that it might be related to the Aulacidse. The 
w T ing, it is true, appears to be plaited, but one cannot be 
sure that this is not due to one of the hazards of fossiliza- 
tion. Moreover, the longitudinal plaiting of the fore wing 
is not in itself sufficient to place a hymenopterous insect 
in the Diploptera, as this character occasionally occurs in 
other groups (Leucospinse, Gasteruptionidse, Galesus ) . I 
have recently taken in Yucatan one of the Psammocharidse 
in which the fore wings are distinctly folded longitudinally 
when at rest. 
From the evidence at hand, it is probably safe to conclude 
that the Diploptera as a group had become differentiated 
from the other Aculeates before or at the beginning of 
Miocene times. Cockerell’s statement, however, that “the 
indications are that we must go to the Eocene or even to 
the Cretaceous, to find the beginning of most of the modern 
genera of wasps” (1910, Schrift. Phys.-Oekon. Ges. Konigs- 
berg, L, p. 1), seems to the writer hardly warranted by 
the facts. 
