64 BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. [Piiiip!o. 



unfortunate in securing examples of it, for I possess but a single female 

 that I can conscientiously refer to it: this I owe to the generosity of Miss 

 Chawner, who has sent me so nianv valuable New Forest Ichneumonidae, 

 including the present female. \\'(' have Gravenhorst's assurance that 

 Hope took it about Netley, in Shropshire ; and Bignell bred it once in 

 South De\'on from a lar\'a of Eitpilhcia linariata feeding on the unripe 

 seeds of toadflax, on 14th March. It is recorded from Essex, Hasting 

 and Fairlight (Vict. Hist.); York (Yorks. Nat. 1881, p. 153); Lands Knd 

 district (Marc(uand); Karlham, near Norwich, and bred by W. Fletcher 

 ixowx Eiipaecilia flaviriliaua (Bridgman); both sexes bred from larvae of 

 Phvcis betulae, by South (Proc. S. Lond. Soc. i8g6, p. 86); and Thornley 

 has, I believe, found it at Mablethor])e, in Lines., and Tresswell, in Notts. 

 Dours (Cat. Hym. France), on (loureau's authority says P. stcrcoraicr xf, 

 j)arasitic on the Iar\-a of a sawfly, Ctphu^ compressus, Lep. 



A most curious instance of predatory habits is brought forward by 

 E. W. Lewis (Mag. Nat. Hist. 1833, p. 414) in connection with an insect, 

 which Westwood perhaps a little arbitrarily refers to the present species 

 (Mod. Class, ii. 150). His "Transactions of a P'ly with a Long Tail" 

 recount it as frequenting lilac bushes in search of the caterpillar of a 

 small moth which rolls up the leaves of those shrubs to form a shelter for 

 itself from the inclemency of the weather and the attacks of its enemies. 

 This, however, is insufficient to protect it from its ingenious assailant, the 

 long-tailed fly, which thrusts its ovipositor into the leafy habitation and 

 speedily drives the larva from its concealment. But, strangely enough, 

 oviposition is not the object of this piece of intelligence ; the ichneumon 

 at once pounces on the larva, disables it by a puncture of the ovipositor 

 and then proceeds to devour the carcase. In this way the fly proceeds 

 most unmercifully, destroying \w^\\\ more caterpillers than she can eat. 

 One might guess the larva to be that of Gracillaria syiingrlla ; but the 

 whole statement is too bizarre to be received without later corroboration 

 and, as Westwood {I.e.) says " From the circumstance that these insects 

 in the perfect state are not ordinarily observed preying upon other insects, 

 it may be inferred that the accounts recorded in the old authors of their 

 voracious propensities, applied to some species of Sphegidae rather than 

 of Ichneumonidae." However, like Dallas in his record of the above 

 remarkable history (P^lements, 244), "I am not aware that this very 

 exceptional habit has been noticed by any other observer ; and in this 

 respect, as in many others, there is still much to be discovered in thr 

 oeconomy of this remarkable tribe of Hymenoptera." 



7. similis, Bridg. 



Piiiipla similis, Ihidg. Trans. Ent. Soc. 1884, p. 433, (? ? ; Schra. Rev. Pimp. 

 1897, p. 591 ct Opusc. Ichn. 1095, ? . 



A black species with red legs, not very broad abdomen, elongate terebra 

 and no metanotal punctures. Head entirely black, hardly narrowed behind 

 the very slightly emarginate eyes; face pilose and centrally elevated ; frons 

 not centrally canaliculate between the uiuisually large scrobes ; four apical 

 palpal joints of 9 piceous and of ^ clear stramineous. Antennae exactly 

 two-thirds the length of the body, black and becoming ferrugineous 

 beneath towards their apices. Thorax inunaculate, metanotum glabrous 

 and nitidulous ; areola indicated but hardly costate, not narrow and a 

 little explanate towards the transversely subaciculate petiolar region ; 



