Pii'ipli'.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 63 



with the hypopygium short and retracted. Legs normal, red, in ^ paler 

 with the claws nigrescent; the anterior with the tibiae paler and the front 

 coxae in 9 basally more or less nigrescent ; hind tibiae whitish testa- 

 ceous with the apex and a band before the base infuscate, their tarsi 

 nigrescent with the first three or four joints basally whitish ; apical tarsal 

 joint twice length of penultimate ; claws of 9 curved, acute and basally 

 distinctly lobate. Wings normal, more or less flavescent in 9 > and hya- 

 line in J'; stigma always pale testaceous, radix and tegulae stramineous; 

 areolet irregular, subscssilo or subpetiolate, sometimes obliquely trans- 

 verse; radial ner\urc soiiuw lial curved apically ; nervellus intercepting 

 in the centre. Length, ic — 12 nun. 



The 9 is similar to /-'. grainine/hu-, but the terebra is distinctly longer 

 and the coxae simple. It is also like P. brn'iconns, but the colour is not 

 quite the same, the antennae in both sexes are distinctly longer than half 

 the body (my 9 is 10 mm. audits antennae nearly 7 mm.), the abdomen 

 is more strongly cylindrical, its lateral tubercles more obsolete, the carinae 

 of the basal segment more prominent and the nervellus nearly central ; 

 moreover the abdomen is more uneven with the segments less closely and 

 regularly punctate. It differs from P. calohata, Gra\'., in haA'ing the pleurae 

 lightly punctate throughout, especiallv in the furrow before the suture, 

 in its finely transaciculate j)etiolar region, black abdomen and nominally 

 shorter terebra, which is of the same length as the abdomen. 



This is the species hitherto known in Britain as P. stercorator, but it has 

 recently been found {cf. Rogenhofer and Dalla Torre, in the Verh. z.-b. 

 Ges. 1 88 1, p. 597) to ha\e been described bv Scopoli, in 1763, under the 

 name here adopted. 



Throughout Europe this species is said to be nowhere uncommon from 

 May to September. It has been frequently, though sometimes uncer- 

 tainly, bred by Ratzeburg, who tells us {I.e.) that Bouche raised it from 

 Orgyia antiqua {cf. Naturg. 146), as well as from 9 mm. parasitic cocoons 

 on Bombyx salicis ; in August, from pupae oi Boruhyx }i(iis/n\i upon several 

 occasions; and Reissig bred a small variety of 5 mm. out of Tinea ahietella. 

 Brischke {I.e. iii. 96) also bred it from the pupae of Gastropacha potatoria 

 and, on i8th April, from Tortrix prasiiuimi ; Titna logitaiella is another 

 nearly certain host. The male iorrw, JJoTipis, was also bred by him from 

 Pithosia quadra and Gas/mpar/ia mu'^tria ; on 22nd June from Tortrix 7'iri- 

 datia and T. Uniugana ; Wissmann bri'd from Atwhium stria fum, along 

 with PLmililes modes/ us {cf'Vr. Knt. Soc. 1907, p. 19), a somewhat doubt- 

 ful male of this Pi/np/a ; and possibly Ratzeburg's P. longijuniris, described 

 from an immature J , found in a hazel leaf rolled by Apoderus eory/i, is 

 synonymous with this species, of which males were bred from the same 

 host by Reissig ; it was furthrr obtained in masses from Cureu/io betuleii 

 in rolled aspen leaves, in the middle of July; and bred from Tortrix 

 resiiiana, T. L'dmattuiaua and T. inimundaua. To the abo\e \aried hosts, 

 Taschenberg adds M\elois eribrella, J^irentia viratrata, and Sciap/ii/a penz- 

 iana ; he adds that the sexes have been captured in cop. On Brischke's 

 authority, we find it preying upon Psilura vumacha and Xephoptery.x vaeeini- 

 ella; he aLso (Schr. Nat. (ies. Danz. 1864, p. 112) shortly describes the 

 parasite's cocoon. In France, Giraud raised it from Grapholitha tripnnctatia 

 and Neviatns salieis. 



As far as Britain is concerned, tiiis species is a mvsterv to me : I find 

 it in every local list without exception and this, from its Continental fre- 

 quency, seems natural enough; I can only suppose that I have been 



