52 BRITISH ICHNr,UMONS. [Pinipla. 



pilose ; cheeks of variable lent^th ; mandibles narrowed towards their 

 apices with two apical teeth of equal length, often bordered and obsoletely 

 punctate. Antennae filiform or somewhat attenuate towards the base with 

 the joints cylindrical and the basal ones rarely apicallv subnodulose ; scape 

 strongly excised externally and sometimes pale beneath in $ . Thorax 

 stout, convex, often pilose and shining, rarely red and not frequently with 

 flavidous discal marks on the notum and scutellum ; notauli usually obso- 

 lete ; metathorax short with onlv two longitudinal carinae indicating the 

 areola, very rarely with the lateral areae entire ; petiolar area rarely basally 

 costate and never discreted ; spiracles oval, ovate, uncommonlv elongate, 

 but generally small and circular. Scutellum somewhat convex, basally 

 foveate and apically rounded, red, flavous-marked, but in the great 

 majority black. Abdomen broadly sessile and centrally more or less 

 broadly explanate or subfusiform, in J not uncommonly linear or sub- 

 cylindrical ; basal segment basally broadlv excavate and at least there 

 bicarinate, often centrally subelevated, and laterally shagreened or rugu- 

 lose, spiracles before the centre, ncA'er much longer than broad in 9 a-'id 

 not often in ^ ; remaining segments usually distinctly broader than long, 

 especiall\- in 9 > with the surface strongly punctate, distinctly uneven, 

 laterally tuberculate, transversely impressed before the elevated and 

 usually nitidulous apical margin ; two apical ventral segments of 9 

 discreted for the passage of the terebra, which is always exserted and 

 varies in length from shorter than the basal segment to longer than the 

 whole body, though usually somewhat shorter than the abdomen. Legs 

 short and stout, femora more or less incrassate, front ones of S some- 

 times distinctly emarginate beneath and their tibiae rarely arcuate ; 

 onychii sometimes strongly explanate and the claws more usually with a 

 small distinct tooth just before their base ; tarsal joints of variable length, 

 the basal rarely setigerous beneath. Wings with the areolet complete, 

 though sometimes externally pellucid, and irregularlv broad triangular ; 

 nervellus intercepting at various points, but never wanting. 



This genus contains many of the commonest and from old best known 

 species of ichneumons, which are everywhere to be met with during the 

 summer with us. Like many others, it has been the practice to treat this 

 genus too much as though self-contained ; and I have found it necessary 

 to rearrange the species found in Britain in order to bring it into line 

 with Ephialtis and Polysphincta, which, though themselves very widely 

 distinct, are obviously connected by the multitudinous and to some extent 

 heterogeneous species of Pimpla. These have been divided by Thomson 

 (Forster's divisions are silly, inadequate and not worthy to be treated as 

 genera) into several \er)- natural subgenera, which, however, with our 

 " scanty British fauna,"* it is not necessary to adopt, excepting as convenient 

 divisions of the main genus ; to these 1 have added Scamhiis, Htg., to 

 which Tschek's P. 7'i'nfricosa certainly belongs, though the females are 

 somewhat difficult to distinguish. P. roborator is certainly allied to 

 Ephialles extensor, Panz. and E. tiihereulatiis, and on the other hand to 

 Thomson's genus Epiiirus, which includes the majoritv of our Pimplae'; 

 this, through Delomerista with smooth abdomen, naturally leads to 

 Pimpla, s. s., which bears but obsolete tubercles and difliers from Itopleetis 

 primarily in its filiform fiagellum, though closely related in the spiracular 

 conformation and tibial colour. To the latter Apeehfis is allied in the 



♦Dr. Schaum, Berl. Ent. Zeit. 1848, p. 34— The insects, as far as I can judge, total roughly 14,500 

 species (those of Suffolk alone 6,300). — CM, 



