The only British insects with which Methoca might be con- 

 founded are the females of Mutilla and Myrmosa, and the 

 apterous Ichneumonidae (Pezomachus Grav.); the peculiar 

 form of the thorax will however at once distinguish our insect 

 from the rest ; and it is further separated from the females of 

 the first by the ocelli, and from the Pezomachi by the fewer 

 joints of the antennae, independent of the 6-jointed maxillary 

 palpi and other differences in the trophi. 



The specimen from which the drawing was made is, I be- 

 lieve, the only British one discovered, and has never been re- 

 corded as a native of this country, excepting in the Guide. I 

 took it the 30th July 1828, running upon a mass of sand-stone 

 ascending Black-gang Chine in the Isle of Wight. I looked 

 in vain for another, and was not more successful in my search 

 for the Tengyra Sanvitali. It is to the liberality of a most 

 zealous and distinguished entomologist at Lyons, Mons. Fou- 

 dras, that I am indebted for a specimen of this insect to dis- 

 sect, as well as for the Tengyra and other rarities. 



Latreille says that the Methoca is found running upon the 

 ground in fields in the South of France, but vei'y rarely: 

 Mons. Foudras has taken it near Lyons with Tengyra Sanvi- 

 tali, which he believes to be the male, and the same opinion 

 having been entertained I believe in the 7th vol. of the Annales 

 du Musee, I shall subjoin the characters, partly from Latreille's 

 Gcn.Crust. v. 4. ^.116, with additions from my own observa- 

 tion. 

 Tengyra. 



AiitenncB of the male shorter than the body, subsetaceous, 

 composed of 13 joints, the 2nd very minute. 



Ocelli three. 



Mcmdihlcs bidentate. 



Palpi, maxillary long, the joints unequal. 



Labium truncated at the apex, subemarginate (trifid, lateral 

 laciniae very short ?). 



Me7itum with the apex subacuminate in the middle. 



Wings, superior with the marginal cell closed, nearly touch- 

 ing the apex, narrow, subelliptic, and acute, 3 perfect sub- 

 marginal cells, the 1st and the 2 discoidal cells long. 



Abdomen elongated and narrow, subfusiform, the annula- 

 tions slightly coarctate. 



Feet short and slender. 

 Sanvitali Lat. 



Black, shining, pubescent : clypeus carinated ; trunk punc- 

 tured, mesothorax rugose ; stigma and nervures piceous ; 

 abdomen very shining. 



Found in Etruria, in the fields of Piedmont, and near Paris 

 and Lyons. 



The plant is Galium cmciatum (Cross- wort or Mug- weed). 



