202 TRANSACTIONS, NATURAL HISTORY SOCIETY OF GLASGOW. 



XIX. 



ON THE OCCURRENCE ON BEN LAWERS OF 

 ARENETRA PILOSELLA, GR., A GENUS OF 

 ICHNEUMONIDJEJ NEW TO THE BRITISH 

 FAUNA. 



BY P. CAMERON, F.E.S. 



[Read 24th April, 1888.] 



Last Easter Sunday (10th April) I went up Ben 

 Lawers, and found in the centre of a large belt of 

 snow, at an elevation of at least 2,500 feet, an ich- 

 neumon which was new to me. On examination I 

 find it to be Arenetra pilosella, Gravenhorst. Graven- 

 horst describes it as Tryphon pilosellus from a single 

 specimen he had received from Austria (Ichn. Europ. 

 ii., 127, 73). The relationship of the species to the 

 Pimplides, rather than to the Tryphonides, was 

 pointed out by Holmgren, who formed a new genus 

 for its reception, and described both sexes. Named 

 first Lasiops (Act. Holm., 1854, 69, 1), that name 

 was discarded as it had been already used, and 

 Arenetra was substituted (Consp. Gen. Pimpl. Suec, 

 128). Unaware, apparently, of Holmgren's work, 

 Giraud (Ann. Soc. Ent. Fr., 1872, p. 412) referred A. 

 pilosella to Phytodietus, and gave a description of 

 the female. 



The species, apparently, is rare, but its rarity may 

 be more apparent than real, as, unlike other Hymen- 

 optera, it is found very early in the year. Giraud 

 found his specimens near Vienna, between the 26th 

 of February and the 6th of March in one year, and 

 on 7th April on another, the temperature being low. 

 In Finland, Woldstedt collected it on 26-27 April. 

 The localities from which it has been recorded are 

 Austria, Finland, and Scandinavia. The genus is 

 placed by Holmgren between Schizopyga and Lam- 

 pronota, and Foerster relegates it to his "family" 

 Banchoidae. I may state that the other species 

 known of Arenetra (A. tomentosa, Gr.) was described 

 by Gravenhorst as a Banchus. Both species have 

 the body densely pilose. 



