244 THE ENTOMOLOGIST. 



Baly, by the colour and punctuation of the thorax, and to 

 severini, Jac, by the shortened antennae, which hardly do more 

 than reach the elytra ; the scattering of the dark colour patches 

 on the elytra gives the species the most speckled appearance of 

 any of the group. 



DESCRIPTION OF A NEW SPECIES OF 

 METEORUS (BRACONID^). 



By G. T. Lyle, F.E.S. 



Meteorus niger, sp. nov. 



Thorax and abdomen entirely black with the exception of the 

 prosternum (sometimes the whole prothorax), which is flavous. Legs 

 with coxge flavous, hind tibse apically darker above, claws black. 

 Head narrower than the thorax, occiput and vertex fuscous, with the 

 orbits flavo-testaceous, face, clypeus, cheeks, mandibles, and palpi 

 flavous. Antennee filiform, as long as, or slightly longer than, the 

 body, fuscous, lighter beneath, radicle flavous, annellus and base of 

 post-annellus testaceous. Wings hyaline ; stigma nigropiceous ; 

 nervures piceous, occasionally lighter ; recurrent nervure evected (I 

 possess a female in which it is interstitial in the right wing only), 

 second cubital areolet not, or scarcely, narrowed towards the radius. 

 Tracheal groves distinct ; terebra black, rather longer than half the 

 abdomen. 



Length, female without terebra, 4^ to 5 mm., expands 9|^ to 

 10 mm. ; male slightly smaller. 



Described from ten males and twenty-eight females. 



It should be noted that the terebra is very slightly longer 

 than half the abdomen ; the stigma is infuscate throughout ; 

 the lower basal nervure is distinctly postfuscal ; the recurrent 

 nervure is emitted from near base of the second cubital cell; 

 and the radial cell of the hind wing is not germinated by a 

 transverse nerve. 



Meteorus niger is most closely allied to M. mclanostictiis, 

 Capron, but differs therefrom principally in that the recurrent 

 nervure is not continuous with the first intercubital ; the meso- 

 sternum and metasternum are never testaceous ; the terebra is 

 at least as long as half the abdomen ; the wings are hyaline ; 

 the postbrachial cell is shorter when compared with the pras- 

 brachial ; and the insect is smaller. 



This species (already referred to by me — but not described — 

 in Entom. vol. xiv. p. 128) exhibits astonishingly little variation 

 and is easily distinguished from its near relatives. In the New 

 Forest it is a common solitary parasite of the larva of Hygrochroa 

 {Pericallia) syringaria, from which host I have bred it in some 

 numbers every year since 1903. Mr. Claude Morley informs me 

 that he has received it from Mr. E. R. Buckell, who bred it from 



