Piniplii.] BRITISH ICHNEUMONS. 77 



lum red. Abdomen uneven, densely and coarsely punctate with weak 

 tubercles ; basal segment black, not longer than apically broad, closely 

 and coarsely punctate with the broad basal excavation entirely glabrous, 

 nitidulous and laterally costatc^ ; llic remaining segments red with their 

 apices black and smooth though liardly elevated ; terebra very nearly as 

 long as the abdomen, black and i)ilose. Legs dull rufescent throughout, 

 with the front ones paler ; hind tibiae and tarsi pale testaceous, with the 

 apices and an indeterminate band before the base of the former, and 

 apices of the joints of the latter, infuscate ; hind coxae finely and evenly 

 punctate and pilose ; apical tarsal joint double length of the penultimate, 

 claws basallv lobate. Wings flavesi-cnt with the stigma, radix and tegulae 

 stramineous; nervellus subobsolete and intercepting far below the centre. 

 Lengtli, 5 — 6 mm. 



(J. Abundant as the $ is, we know nothing of the (5 beyond Ratze- 

 burg's surmise that "a 5 mm. $, which Dr. Nordlinger bred with P. po- 

 nionim, probably belongs to it. It agrees in sculpture, in the pale stigma, 

 the white tegulae, radix and collar, as well as in the light colour of the 

 legs, which have, as is usual in the males, rather more white ; but the red 

 colouration of the thorax is entirely wanting ; the whole antennae are 

 lighter, especially the two basal joints which are white beneath ; and the 

 abdomen is more or less infuscate." Both sexes were again bred later by 

 Reissig. 



This species, which possibly constituted the type of Forster's genus 

 Tro/mra, is superficially similar to P. ruficoUis, but always smaller, with 

 the nervellus subobsolete and intercepting much lower, the basal segment 

 excavate to distinctly beyond its centre, and both the antennae and the 

 terebra shorter. Thomson draws attention to its likeness to a small red 

 P. bi-ei'iconiis. 



P. pomoitim was described by Ratzeburg (loc. at.) from specimens 

 bred by Reissig from Curciilio pomorum in pear blossom, and both sexes 

 raised from the same host by Nordlinger; later (iii. 103) he adds that 

 the former bred both sexes from apple blossom. 1 cannot find that it has 

 been bred since that time. It is said to be rare in Thuringia and southern 

 .Sweden, and is not included in Toscjuinet's very full list of the Belgian 

 Pimp/tH', nor does Dours mention it from France. In Britain, on the con- 

 trary, the female is one of the commonest of all Ichneumonidae in the 

 early spring and ma\- be frequently beaten, with P. nniciihifor, from Coni- 

 ferae from i6th February to 9th April, though in general not quite so 

 commonly as its congener. Tliere are very if^w records, however, proba- 

 bly since it was not recorded as British till Bridgman brought it forward 

 (Trans. Pint. Soc. i88q, p. 435) on the strength of specimens i-aptured by 

 Dr. Capron at .Shere, in a s})ot where An/liononius poiiKiruin was abundant. 

 Subsequently .Marshall found it commonly at Cornworthy, in Devon ; and 

 Thouless at Drayton, in Norfolk. I ])ossess, besides those taken by 

 Capron, several from Felden in 1 Icrts., eaptured in the middle of February 

 by Piffard, and at Tostock in Suffolk by Tuck; and have seen others from 

 Kings Lynn in Atmore's collection. 1 have invariably beaten it from 

 Piniis syhustris and Picea excelsa in fir woods about Bentley in Sufiblk in 

 the spring, though once it occurred to me on a large Toxns khuihi in my 

 garden here at .Monks' Soham, on 19th October. With us it certainly 

 does not prey upon the Apple Weevil, since that species is entirely un- 

 known in Suffolk, and its habitat at ]k>ntley is not within a couple of 

 miles of any orchard, though crab-apples occur in the woods. 



