282 
Psyche 
[September 
the “tergites II-VIII” are not “dull black,” but of a deep 
blue color, smooth and highly polished, as described by 
Harris 3 under Urocerus nitidus. 
The type came from Dublin, N. H., near Mt. Monadnock, 
about one hundred miles south of Randolph. It seems 
evident that this is the prevailing form of this region and 
that it represents the S. nitidus Harris. I have also received 
a male from Mr. Dwight Blaney, who collected it on Iron- 
bound Island near Bar Harbor, Maine. The males vary 
considerably in color. Three and often four of the basal 
segments and the eighth segment of the abdomen are dark 
blue. One has the base of the eighth only narrowly bluish, 
and a second specimen has the same segment with only a 
narrow apical margin of yellow. Many specimens have on 
the three or four yellow segments dorsal spots of blue, and 
the seventh segment is often widely margined with blue. 
As in S. noctilio the first transverse brachial vein may be 
either complete or incomplete, but this character is of 
little value. In 100 specimens, 60 had the vein complete 
and in 40 it was incomplete; in addition two specimens 
had the vein complete in one wing and incomplete in the 
other. 
The specimens came from a Balsam fir ( Abies bal- 
samea) which had been cut down during the summer of 
1929. On September 3 Dr. Lewis sent a section of the 
tree 11 inches long, with a diameter of 4% inches, from 
which 41 specimens had emerged. With the Sirex nitidus 
were taken three males of Ibalia ensiger Nort. This species 
like I. maculiyennis Hald. is probably parasitic on Sirex 
and other wood borers. 
While collecting on Nantucket, Mass., Sept. 9, 1929, I 
obtained an interesting specimen associated with Sirex 
edwardsii, a male in which all except the first and second 
segments of the abdomen are yellow. If the third and 
fourth joints of the antennse were not reddish I should 
be inclined to refer it to S. nigricornis without question, 
and perhaps this may prove to be the case. All of the 
many male specimens of S. edivardsii taken have only the 
fifth and sixth segments of the abdomen yellow. 
3 T. W. Harris. Insects of Massachusetts Injurious to Vegetation, 
p. 391, 1841. 
