896 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol. xxxr. 



band of black on the third, fourth, and tifth plates, not iisuallv cover- 

 ing all the surface of these plates; the ferruginous portions of the 

 dorsal plates are somewhat varied in their depth of color; all the plates 

 are sericeous; ])eneath, with a similar black band on the third, fourth, 

 and tifth plates; there are a few punctures on the last three dorsal 

 plates, being few in number and weak on the first two, and chietl y at 

 the sides, but quite large and generally distributed On the terminal 

 plate which beai-s a few brownish hairs; the surface beneath is glisten- 

 ing, with minute punctures and scattered hairs, the former becoming 

 more abundant posteriorly. 



Wirigs. — Yellowish hyaline, somewhat fuliginous on the outer mar- 

 gins, in some cases quite generally fuliginous; first and second trans- 

 verse cubital veins close together on the radial cell in the fore wing, 

 and the first recurrent vein almost interstitial with the second trans- 

 verse cubital vein; tegular dark, nearly black, somewhat sericeous or 

 almost pubescent near the middle. 



Legs. — Coxa; black, the posterior pair silvery pubescent behind; all 

 with numerous pale and dark yellowish hairs and rather sericeous; 

 trochanters black, sericeous; the other segments ferruginous except 

 the bases of the femora, the last one or two tarsal segments and the 

 claw\s, the tarsal segments being brown, and the claws black tipped; 

 fore metatarsus with nine comb teeth, shorter than half the length of 

 the metatarsus; inner contour of the hind tibia straight, its posterior 

 surface densel}" pale sericeous. 



Yariations. — Some one or more of the following variations often 

 occur: The .black on the first dorsal abdominal plate is sometimes 

 absent; the terminal dorsal plate ma}' be dark but not black; the l)lack 

 on the third, fourth, and fifth segments is not always continuous; and 

 there is sometimes atin}- pubescent spot above the middle coxa?. 



LengtJt. — Females, 17 — 22 mm. 



I have seen specimens of this species from Florida, Mississippi, Texas 

 (Columbus), and Mexico. Fox reports it from Brazil. I am unable 

 to distinguish duh!t<(tuiii from what has ])een known as Sphe.r dor.ml is 

 Smith, regarded b}' Kohl as a variety of Cldorion ichneumoneuin, and 

 a long series of comparative measurements fails to show any differ- 

 ences. The only distinctions which are percepti])le seem to be in the 

 color of the pubescence, that of duhltatum being paler. In many 

 cases, however, ever}'^ gradation of shade between the two can be 

 found, and certain other characters which are common to the two do 

 not seem to occur in other species. 



Kohl regards /n/ccmsov dorsalis Smith as a variety of iclineumoneuin. 

 With this I am not prepared to agree, as mlcans is a more slender 

 insect in proportion to its length, has black mandibles with at most 

 only a faint ferruginous tinge, the scape is black, the anal segment is 

 ferruginous, the teeth of the fore metatarsal comb are less than half 



