406 U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM BULLETIN 216 



Most collecting dates are from June 8 to September 18. Those out- 

 side of this range are : May 8 near Tigerville, S. C. ; May 30 at Ithaca, 

 N. Y. and Plainfield, Vt.; June 2 and 4 at Ithaca, N. Y.; September 

 19 at Mount Benson, B. C. at 3,000 ft.; September 20 and October 10 

 at Wallace, Idaho; and October 13 at Naubinway, Mich. 



Specimens have been reared from Picea sitchensis, Picea sp., Tsuga 

 canadensis, Abies lasiocarpa, and A. balsamea, but there are no definite 

 host records. 



This species is transcontinental in the Canadian, Transition, and 

 Upper Austral zones. Most adults occur from early summer to 

 early fall. 



III. PERSUASORIA GROUP 



Face with sparse hairs sparser medially than laterally; lateral 

 portion of prepectal carina moderately strong; first tergite about 

 1 .6 as long as wide; second through sixth tergites weakly mat in males, 

 strongly mat in females, the mat sculpturing transverse, giving a trans- 

 versely aciculate appearance, especially in females; third tergite with 

 short hairs the sockets of which are separated by about 1.7 (in males) 

 or 5.0 (in females) length of the hairs; second through fourth sterna 

 of male each with a single, large, uniformly convex sternite; apical 

 membranous area of female second through fourth sterna extending 

 forward between the paired sternites for about 0.25 the length of the 

 sternites; apical margin of male subgenital plate broadly concave. 



Flagellum black ; temporal orbit marked with white ; mesepisternum 

 with a white spot on subtegular ridge, usually a subcircular white 

 spot next middle coxa, and sometimes other white marks; second 

 through fourth tergites with large apical white spots all or mostly dis- 

 connected; seventh tergite of female with a large transverse lateral 

 white spot and a smaller submedian white spot, the lateral and sub- 

 median white spots sometimes partly fused with each other (fig. 317,g). 



This group includes only the Holarctic R. persuasoria. 



7. Rhyssa persuasoria (Linnaeus) 



Figure 317,g 



Ichneumon persuasorius Linnaeus, 1758, Systema naturae, ed. 10, vol. 1, p. 562. 

 Types: cf, 9, Europe (Linnean Society of London). 



Front wing of male 7.5 to 15.5 mm. long, of female 11 to 24 mm. 

 long. Structural characters as described for the species group. 



Male: Black. Face, frontal orbit, part or all of temporal orbit, 

 palpi, spot on anteroventral swelling of pronotum, sometimes a pair 

 of spots on collar, stripe on upper margin of pronotum extending from 

 epomia to near hind corner, tegula, spot on subtegular ridge, usually 

 a spot on mesopleurum near middle coxa, usually apex of scutellum, 



