1888.] PROCEEDINGS OF UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM. 611 DESCRIPTIONS OF NEW BRACONID^ IN THE COLLECTION OF THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM. BY WILLIAM H. ASHMEAD. For some months past, under the direction of Dr. Riley, Curator of Insects in the U. S. National Museum, it has been my pleasant duty to ar-range the extensive collection of Bracpnidce and Ickneumonidce brought together from various sources by the above institution. The collection contains not only the valuable collections of Dr. Riley and the celebrated Belfrage collection, donated by the former gentle-man some years ago, but the extensive reariugs of these insects made by Dr. Riley during his administration as Entomologist of the TJ. S. Department of Agriculture and while State Entomologist of Missouri. The insight that these rearings give into the habits of the different species, genera, and groups into which these Hymenopters have been divided is of incalculable value, both from a scientific and economic standpoint; and the aid afforded to the systematist in classifying the complexity of forms can not be too highly estimated, and is of the greatest biological importance. The Braconidw have been but slightly studied in this country, and, naturally in such an extensive collection, many uudescribed forms were discovered. These, with the exception of the Microgasters and some species in other genera, to which Dr. Riley has given especial attention, are described in the following pages. All types of the new species described below will be found in the col-lections of the IT. S. National Museum. I desire here to thank my friends Dr. George H. Horn and Mr. E. T. Cresson for freely permitting me to examine and make comparison with the types of these insects contained in the collection of the American Entomological Society of Philadelphia, whereby errors that might otherwise have been made have been avoided. Subfamily BRACONINiE. VIPIO Latreille. Vipio coloradensis u. sp. Female. — Length 7 mm ; ovipositor 9" ,m . Orange red; ocelli, antennae, clvpeus, labruin, extreme tips of mandibles, all coxa? and trochanters, middle and posterior legs, base of mesopleura, and anterior femora at base and stripe above to near tip, black; a stripe along inner side of pos-terior femora, the sutures of middle and posterior knees, and extreme base of posterior coxas, behind, are red. The head is rostriform, smooth and polished, with a slight sericeous pile; thorax smooth, polished, the mesothorax trilobed, the middle lobe being prominent; scutellum
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