1929] Use of Terms Parapsides and Parapsidal Furrows 379 
the prescutal furrows are present in the adult. In Pepsis, a 
somewhat similar form, the mesonotum is, at first glance, 
composed of a large central area bounded laterally by the 
parapsidal furrows. A closer examination of the mesonotal 
surface reveals the presence of a pair of short indistinct 
furrows extending backward from the anterior margin. 
These are the remains of the prescutal furrows and delimit 
the anterior lateral borders of the prescutum. From the 
foregoing it is quite evident that the huge, apparently un- 
differentiated area present in Polistes and Pepsis is a com- 
bination of prescutum plus scutum and in no case does the 
prescutum extend laterally to the parapsidal furrows. 
Mayr, 1861, w T as the first to mention these furrows which 
morphologically limit the prescutum in some forms and in 
his early writings applied to them the indifferent term “ Con- 
ner girende Furchen.” Later, 1878, he identified them erro- 
neously with the furrows of Macleay calling them Parap- 
sidenfurchen. Kokouyew, 1898, designated these furrows as 
notauli. Emery, 1900, noted the misinterpretation of Mayr 
and designated the central furrows as Mayrian furrows. 
Morley, 1903, used the term notauli in the same sense as 
Kokouyew. Schmeideknecht, 1907, uses the term notauli for 
the central furrows but gives it as a synonym of Parap- 
sidenfurchen which is obviously incorrect. It may be seen 
from this brief sketch of the terms applied to these furrows 
that convergirende Furchen, notauli, and Mayrian furrows 
are synonymous. Since the term notauli has been used more 
widely than the other two terms and is perhaps the most 
appropriate of the three because, by derivation, it means 
“hollows on the back,” present workers who have not already 
adopted this term to indicate the central furrows should do 
so and thus aid in avoiding any further confusion in the 
literature. 
Some very clear distinctions between parapsidal furrows 
and notauli are evident upon an examination of different 
Hymenoptera. Both pairs of furrows are extremely vari- 
able in character, yet the following generalizations may be 
made. The parapsidal furrows may be present and the 
notauli absent, or vice versa, and occasionally in some forms 
both parapsidal furrows and notauli may be absent. In 
