46 
the last joint, which is dusky. All the femora more or less dusky 
pale at each extremity; trochanters pale, the coxae bronzed like the 
thorax. 
Abdomen shining, impunctured, about 1.2 mm. long by .45 mm. 
wide, oval in outline, narrowing toward either extremity; seven dis¬ 
tinctly visible segments, the first about as long as the two following, 
second short, seventh conical. General color of the abdomen piceous 
or bronzed black, first segment bronzed green at the extreme base 
with a quadrate yellow patch above, which sometimes extends on 
to the second. A similar but paler patch beneath, covers the first 
three or four ventral segments. All the^segments are sparsely hairy 
upon the posterior half. 
Female. — Th.e female is extremely similar to the male, but may be 
distinguished at once by the abdomen and the antennae, the former 
being more broadly ovate, more acutely pointed, and bearing a sting¬ 
like ovipositor beneath, usually indeed exserted at the tip. The color 
of the abdomen is darker, the pale area at the base being smaller, 
less definite and of a chestnut tint. The antennae are pale through¬ 
out, somewhat shorter than those of the male, with the joints less 
hairy and more distinct. The club is pointed ovate, shorter than that 
of the male, and not distinguishable into separate joints, so that the 
recognizable segments in the female antennae are eleven in number 
instead of thirteen, as in the male. The club is equal in length to 
the two joints preceding, the tip acuminate and slightly recurved. 
LIFE HISTORY. 
Our earliest* specimens of this species were obtained June 3 from 
Hessian fly larvae, collected on that date at Villa Ridge, in extreme 
Southern Illinois. The earliest collection from which this parasite 
emerged was made on the 27th May at Mt. Carmel, the adult Semio- 
tellus appearing on the 22d of the following month. The latest ex¬ 
amples of this species to appear in our breeding cages emerged 
July 26, from flaxseeds collected on the 24th June at Anna, Illinois. 
Further details respecting the periods of this species will be found 
in the table at the end of this paper. 
It is worthy of note that although our breeding cages containing 
straw and stubble infested by the Hessian fly were all reserved for 
more than a year, no examples of this parasite occurred therein in 
spring, although by Herrick it is reported to emerge at that time. 
Pteromalus pallipes, n. s. 
(Plate IV. Fig. 1.) 
A short thick species with the head broader than the thorax, the 
abdomen ovate and obtuse. Head and thorax bronzed black, 
* Although it has been heretofore supposed that the winter brood of the larva; of tin 
Hessian fly was never parasitized. I find among our breeding cage notes an entry to uy 
effect that six living chalcid parasites were taken on the 10th May. 1883, from a cage 'i- 
Which multitudes of Hessian flies had been bred, the wheat containing them having Dee 
collected April 10, atCentralia, Ill.,—a date so early that only the winter brood of l it * 
could possibly have occurred in it. I greatly regret that, owing to a removal of 
I can not get access at this writing to the specimens on which this statement was case • 
