Xylonomtis.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 23 



5. securicornis, Hol/iii^r. 



XyloiioiiiKs scciiricontis, Holmgr. Sv. Ak. Handl. 1860, n. 10, p. 69. ? 



A small, hardly shining, subscabriculously punctata, black species with 

 the abdomen entirely red. Mead black and nitidulous with the vertex 

 broad and obsoletely punctate ; occiput not bordered, mouth piceous. 

 Antennae obsoletely pilose at ape.x, gradually attenuate towards the base ; 

 scape red beneath ; flagellum apically subcla\ate with the joints ten to 

 twelve clear white. Thorax black and scabriculous ; mesonotum sub- 

 transversely striate with distinct notauli; metathorax finely punctate with an 

 apical mark on either side in the supracoxal areae red ; apophyses distinct ; 

 areae subobsolete, basal very short and cariniform, areola subtriangular, 

 emitting weak costulae from its centre ; petiolar area subvertical and nearly 

 smooth. Scutellum simple, its extreme apex truncate and basal fovea 

 entire. Abdomen red with the basal segment margined, scabriculous and 

 behind the spiracles coarctate, bicarinate at base only and not much 

 longer than apically broad ; segments strongly transverse and finely trans- 

 aciculate ; terebra a little longer than the abdomen, black with the spicula 

 fulvous. Legs short, stout and dull red, with the coxae and trochanters 

 black ; tibiae not tortuous, but distinctly intumescent laterally before 

 the constricted base ; tarsi short, with the claws and apical joint 

 infuscate. Wings slightly clouded ; stigma infuscate with the base 

 narrowly pale, radix and tegulae dull testaceous ; nervellus ojjjx^site and 

 intercepted exactly in the centre. Length, 2 lines. 



At once known by the colour of the abdomen, thi' slruclure of the 

 antennae and of the basal segment. 



Holmgren only knew one female, taken in S\\ cdi'n by Boheman ; and 

 no subsequent author appears to have noticed it. Bridgman recorded 

 this species from Earlham (Trans. Norfolk Soc. 1893, p. 632) and there is 

 a single female in his collection in the Norwich Castle ^Museum, I pos- 

 sess a second British example which was kindly presented to me by Mr. 

 E. A. Butler on the i ith August, 1900 ; he had just captured it at Abinger 

 Hammer near Dorking, in Surrey ; it is onlv 4 mm. in length, with the 

 terebra 2} mm. This species has not bei'u bred and the male is still 

 unknown. 



PIMPLIDES. 



Tlie members of this Tribe are at once known from the whole of the other 

 Ichneumonidae by the more or less distinct tubercles on either side of eacli 

 segment of the abdomen, rendering its surface, which is also generally 

 transversely impressed before the apex, of very uneven appearance ; in 

 some cases each segment is deeply marked by a triangular impression with 

 its base resting on the apical margin and apex in the centre of the anterior. 

 The body is occasionally brightly coloured, but for the most part the 

 insects are black, strongly punctate and often nitidulous. 'I'he earlier 

 genera comprise some of the longest of British ichneumons, though tlu-ir 

 form is so slender that in bulk they must yii-ld to apparently smalli-r 

 species. None of the species are very small and all have verv definite 

 characters, which are, however, not always apparent at first sight. I at 

 first attempedto bring this Tribe more into lini- with the Xoridides, but I 

 am now convinced that morphologically they have nothing in connnon 

 with them. 



