1881. 79 



I have two specimens of this species, both males, they were cap- 

 tured in the neighbourhood of Exeter, 1879, and, up to the present, I 

 have not seen another. 



Hemiteles gtrint. 



J . Head, thorax, and scutellum black, head somewhat square, wider than the 

 thorax ; mouth ferruginous, palpi pale straw-colour. Antennae : black above, 

 piceous beneath, the basal joint large, inflated, with a deeply impressed annulus near 

 the apex, second joint pale yellow at the base ; all densely pubescent. Thorax smooth 

 in front, the rest clothed with a yellowish pubescence. Wings ample, hyaline, irides- 

 cent, stigma and nerves dark piceous, the base and scale pale yellowish. Legs pale 

 reddish straw-colour, the claws of the anterior pair, and the intermediate and posterior 

 tarsi dark fuscous. Abdomen elongate-clavate, peduncle black, the first three seg- 

 ments, and the base of the fourth red, the rest black, the first is slightly contracted 

 in the middle, and depressed above, with two black dots, one on each side of the 

 medial line, the wbole rather densely pilose. Length, 2\ lines. 



? . Head, thorax, and scutellum black, mouth black, prothorax with two deeply 

 impressed lines ending at the base of the scutellum. Scutellum small, coi'date, with a 

 deep impressed line running round it. Antennae, a fac-simile of those of the male, ex- 

 cept that they are black ; length, If lines. "Wings ample, iridescent, stigma and ner- 

 vures black, base pale, scale whitish. Legs bright red, anterior claws, middle tarsi, 

 the base and apex of the posterior tibiae, and tarsi, entirely black. Abdomen 

 elliptical, peduncle shining black, with two longitudinal impressed lines, the first, 

 second, and third segments red, the latter with a black fascia, the rest black, with 

 their extreme apices whitish. Ovipositor black ; length, % line. Length, 2 lines. 



This interesting species was bred from the pupa-cases of Gyrinus 

 natator : the male came out either in the autumn of 1880 or early in 

 1881, as the pupae were put into a box and were not looked at till the 

 spring. The females were bred from pupae collected this spring, and 

 the insects came out in July. 



1 am indebted to the Eev. J. Hellins for these : he collected the 

 pupa-cases of the Gyrinus on the heads of rushes and other water 

 plants growing by the side of the Exeter Canal. I am somewhat at a 

 loss to know at what stage the larva of the Gyrinus is attacked ; I 

 thought at first, when examining the male, it being so densely pubes- 

 cent, that this species attacked the beetle-larvae while still in the water, 

 but now that I am acquainted with the female, and find that she is 

 not so pubescent, I do not think this can be so. It is probable that the 

 larva is attacked while ascending the stem of the plant, or, perhaps, 

 when it has made itself a cocoon, as the female is provided with an 

 ovipositor sufficiently long to pierce through the pupa-case. 



The cases are made of the seeds or flower-heads, or any materials 

 within reach of the little beetle-larvae. 



Exeter: August 4th, 1881. 



