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locality, this is usually due to the attacks of its parasites, and 
especially one Chalcid-fiy, the Semiotellus destructor, first described 
by Say. 
This is a hymenopterous insect, having four wings and belonging 
to the same order of insects as the Saw-flies, four-winged Gall-flies 
(Cynips), the larger ichneumons, and the wasps and bees. It is a 
member of the family Chalcidce. As stated in our Guide to the 
Study of Insects, this is a group of great extent, the species being of 
small size; they are often of shiny colors, as the name of the prin¬ 
cipal genus implies, being either bronze or metallic. They also 
have elbowed antennae with from six to fourteen joints, and the 
wings are often deficient in veins. The abdomen is usually smaller, 
and composed of seven rings in the male, and of six in the female, 
the latter often having a short but visible ovipositor, a horny tube 
consisting of three pairs of stout bristles closely united and forming 
a quite solid tube. Some species are wingless. There are 1,200 
species of the family known in Europe, and there are, in all prob¬ 
ability, at least 1,000 in the United States. Few of them are over 
a line in length. 
Semiotellus destructor, male. (Plate I. Fig. i much enlarged.) The 
head is transversely oblong, or rather cubical, being rather wider 
that long, and slightly broader than the thorax when seen from 
above, being full, somewhat rounded in front, and hollowed out 
behind next to the thorax. The eyes are dull red, reaching, when 
seen above, behind the middle of the head. The antennae are 
elbowed, and when bent back reach to about the middle of the 
thorax; they are yellow T on the basal half, black beyond. For a 
further account of the antennae we quote as follows from Fitch, our 
specimens being defective in this respect: 
“In the male they are of uniform thickness through their entire 
length. Viewed with a common magnifier they appear ten-jointed, 
though the last joints are usually so compacted that in the dried 
specimen the full number cannot be distinctly discerned. When 
highly magnified two small additional transverse joints may usually 
be discerned, more or less distinctly, between the second and the 
third joints, of which the first is rather smaller than the second. 
The joints are slightly longer than thick, and rather narrower 
towards their bases. The second joint is longer than the others, 
its length being about double its thickness. The last joint is more 
than twice as long as thick, its apex appearing to be cut off trans¬ 
versely, with a minute teat-like process protruded therefrom.” 
The thorax is about twice as long as broad, and widest at the 
insertion of the fore-wings; like the head, the crust is coarsely punc¬ 
tured. The fore-wings are broad, triangular, well rounded externally; 
the subcostal vein is very thick, being strongly marked, and after 
joining the costal or front edge of the wing for a short distance, 
just beyond the middle of the wing, is bent in towards the middle 
of the wing, ending in a knob-like expansion with a slight point 
extending towards the costal edge of the wing. Fitch represents a 
slightly marked vein extending to the outer edge of the wing, but 
this is absent in some specimens. There is an incomplete median 
and submedian vein, only perceptible under strong magnifying 
