HOLARCTIC TRIBES OF THE ICHNEUMON-FLIES OF THE SUBFAMILY ICHNEUMONINAE (PIMPLINAE). By R. A. CusHMAN and S. A. Rohwer, Of the Bureau of Entomology, United States Department of Agriculture. INTRODUCTION. This paper, which is a joint contribution of the Branch of Decid-uous Fruit Insect Investigations and the Branch of Forest Insects of the Bureau of Entomology, is the result of study extending over a period of several years, and embodies the opinion of the authors as to the relationship and number of tribes of the Ichneumoninae (Pim-plinae Authors) as represented in the Holarctic region. As originally planned, we had hoped to prepare a joint paper on the entire group, but since, because of interruptions by other work, such a paper is found impracticable we have considered it advisable to present a tribal synopsis as a basis for subsequent revision of the minor groups. The change of the subfamily name is necessary because the type of the genus Ichneumon is Ichneumon manifestator Linnaeus ^ and has as synonyms the isogenotypic genera Pimpla Fabricius and Ephialtes Gravenhorst (not Schrank).^ The subfamily name Pimplinae must therefore be suppressed in favor of Ichneumoninae and the subfamily Ichneumoninae of authors will be Joppinae after the name of the oldest included genus. HISTORICAL. The beginning of the classification of the Ichneumoninae dates of course from Linnaeus, but since the writers preceding Gravenhorst 1 Morice and Currant, (Trans. Ent. Soc. Lond., 1914, p. 388) contend that the type of the genus Ichneumon is Ichneumon persuasorius Linnaeus, a species given by Lamarck (1801) as an example for the genus Ichneu-mon. We can not agree with them in this nor do we believe that the rulings in the Code of International Zoo-logical Nomenclature will uphold the acceptance of the Lamarckian examples as tj^pe designation. The code specifically says "The meaning of the expression 'select a type' is to be rigidly construed. Mention of a species as an illustration or example of a genus does not constitute a selection of a type." Lamarck and most of the older -nTiters, including most of Latreille's works, gave examples only as an illustration of tho genus and not as a type designation. » See Cushman and Rohwer, Proc. Ent. Soc. Wash., vol. 20, 1919, p. 186. Proceedings U. S. National Museum. Vol. 57— No. 2315, 379
BioStor
