In the last Number I had the pleasure of publishing an extra- 

 ordinary novelty belonging to the order Strepsiptera, and I 

 am happy to commence a new volume with an equally fine 

 species of" the order Hymenoptera. 



This curious insect is considerably like Helorus and some 

 of the Proctotrupidae at first sight, and not unlike some of the 

 Formicidae; and the habit as well as the sculpture of the 

 thorax remind us, at a casual glance, of the genus Chlorion ; — 

 on examining the mouth however, and wings, it will be found 

 to be entirely different. It is undoubtedly one of th.e Ichneu- 

 monidae, and bears considerable resemblance to Hemiteles, 

 but it has no areolet in the superior wings ('). 



For specimens of this fine nondescript I am indebted to 

 Henry Walker, Esq., who took them on the Clyde, near 

 Lanark; they were accompanied by the following remarks. 



" I observed the males at the end of May and beginning of 

 June, on days when the sun shone bright, skimming over the 

 surface of the water, and alighting on humid moss-covered 

 stones. Towards the close of the day I subsequently detected 

 two females reposing on the same rocks, apparently in a dor- 

 mant state." 



A. armatus Walk. — Curtis Brit. Ent. pi. 3S9. Jemale. 



Male, black shining, thickly clothed with very short yel- 

 lowish pubescence, minutely punctured; scutellum with the 

 tip of the spine ochreous, postscutellum and petiole dull, the 

 latter thickly punctured, with two elevated lines down the 

 back, and one on each side. Wings transparent, obscurely 

 clouded with pale brown, the stigma and nervures piceous. 

 Female more robust; the antennae are much shorter, similar 

 in colour and sculpture, the spine of the scutellum is entirely 

 black ; the wings, especially the superior, are stained yellow, 

 clouded with rich brown forming three fascise, the two first 

 united at the interior margin, the third running obliquely from 

 the stigma, the apex of the same colour, but rather paler. 



They vary exceedingly in size, some being only half as large 

 as others. 



The Plant is Scutellaria galericulata (Common Skull-cap). 



(') Since the above was written, I have received a specimen sent by me to Mens. 

 Latreille for his inspection. He says : " The antennse, the cibarian organs, and 

 partly the disposition of the cells of the wings, rank it with the Ichneumonidae; 

 but by the form of the abdomen and the radial cell of the wings it appears to me 

 to approach the Oryuri, especially my genus Helorus ; — in a word, it seems to unite 

 the IchneumonidaB with the Oxyuri. The ovipositor (terebra), or rather the ex- 

 tremity of the abdomen, appears, from the specimen that you haVe transmitted to 

 me, more analogous to that of the latter than the former." 



